


Bloody Legs

by yuto_da



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Roronoa Zoro, Badass Roronoa Zoro, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bottom Vinsmoke Sanji, Caring Roronoa Zoro, Eventual Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji, Fluff and Angst, Luffy Being Luffy, Luffy Is a Little Shit, M/M, Minor Franky/Nico Robin, Minor Monkey D. Luffy/Nami, Sanji Being An Asshole, Sanji's injured and Zoro takes care of ihm, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Top Roronoa Zoro, Tumblr Prompt, Uke Vinsmoke Sanji
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-07 03:15:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12224607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuto_da/pseuds/yuto_da
Summary: Sanji breaks his leg in a fight and can’t walk on it until it heals, and Zoro is under strict orders from Nami to be a wheel chair for him until then. Naturally, chaos ensures.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Eyyy!! My OP fandom is so low nowadays -cry- but I will attempt to revive it in this somewhat humorous angsty fic for Zosan, hope you enjoy and as always comment, kudos, bookmark it whatever just tell me what you think of this fic! You can hit my tumblr up @writing-crap-all-day or just talk to me here! I've rambled for too long, onwards with thy fic!
> 
> I completely forgot this but, woo!! my 50th fic on ao3!! and it's a OP!! My very first story on this site was OP as well, guess it comes with luck lol

“I’m not sure quite how to tell you this, Sanji.” Chopper said. Hesitation was unmistakable in his voice and in his posture. The mocha-colored reindeer had somehow managed to wring his hooves nervously, and Sanji found the sight unbelievably disturbing.

“Spit it out, Chopper.” Sanji replied, his nerves slightly unnerved by Chopper’s distressed behavior. “You’re making me worried.” 

He tried calming down by lighting a cigarette from the packet in his shirt pocket. He ignored the annoyed look Chopper sent him and took a few puffs; inhaling them deep into his lungs and holding for a few seconds before exhaling the smoke up at the ceiling in small rings.

“Okay...” Chopper begun, looking at everything but at the blonde male sitting on the bed with a blanket draped over his legs. “The blow you took from the marine... it shattered some bones in your leg...”

“So? I’ve had shattered bones before, Chopper. This isn’t something new.”

“That’s true but,” This time Chopper made eye contact with the blonde. “the bones shattered are crucial for your body’s support and... it will take longer than a few weeks to heal.”

“Okay...” Sanji wasn’t following. He didn’t understand why the small reindeer was so edgy. It didn’t sound too bad. His leg had been broken before and though it had been a inconvenience, it had taken less than a month to heal. A few weeks longer wouldn’t be so bad. He’d managed to do it before. He could certainly do it again.

“How long will it take?“ Sanji took another puff and used his fingers to make swirls up in the air. “A month? Six weeks?”

Chopper shook his head and nervously chewed on his lip, a nervous habit he picked up from Nami. “A few months.”

Sanji’s cigarette fell from his lips and landed on his lap, softly burning away at the blanket strewn over his thighs, but Sanji paid it no mind. “What?” Sanji said when he found his voice.

Chopper’s eyes widened at the cigarette casually burning away the blanket and he squeaked, jumping off his chair, he dashed over to Sanji and put the death stick out on an old magazine cover. He glared at Sanji, but the blonde ignored him.

“How long is a few months, Chopper?” Sanji asked with a strange voice. It was an odd mixture of a growl and a squeak, Chopper didn’t really know how to describe it.

“Three to four months, at most.” Chopper went back to his chair and sat down. “The blow that marine delivered did serious damage to the bones in your leg, Sanji.” 

“A few weeks won’t be enough for them to heal and function properly.” 

Chopper looked Sanji in the eye, and didn’t break eye contact as he said that. It was crucial the blonde understood he couldn’t strain his body to perform like it did before he got injured. Chopper feared if he did; the damage would be far worse than a few broken bones.

“I have to perform surgery to fully understand the nature of the damage, and then I will place your leg in a cast, and, you have to listen to me Sanji, under no circumstances, not a single one, should you place any weight on your leg. It would reverse the surgery done, and you’ll be immobile for a longer period than a simple three or four months.”

Sanji fumbled inside his shirt pocket for his cigarette packet and gave up when he found it empty. He’d apparently already smoked his last cigarette and he hadn’t even enjoyed it properly. He dropped his hand from his pocket and let them lay limp in his lap, right above his damaged leg.

“So, your saying I’m incapacitated for four months?”

Chopper winced and looked away. “I wouldn’t say incapacitated, Sanji. Think of it as... just being out of commission for a few months.“

The realization that he’d be unable to walk for FOUR months; that he’d be literally of no use to the crew and his cooking would undoubtedly be a hindrance and obviously his style of fighting would obviously aggravate the damaged appendage.

Too many things hit Sanji at once and hearing Chopper describe his situation as ‘being out of commission for a few months’ made him snap.

“This isn’t a job, Chopper! I can’t say ‘I’m out of commission for a few months’ as if its nothing!This is a real problem!”

“ I won’t be able to walk for four fucking months! Do you know how long four months is!?” He roared, “16 weeks! That’s 112 days! I won’t be able to do anything for a hundred fucking days!”

Chopper reeled back from Sanji, tears shining in his chocolate brown orbs. Sanji immediately felt horrible for snapping at the younger male. It wasn’t his fault that he was in that position. The kind-hearted doctor was not to blame. The marine who had snuck up behind him and cowardly attacked his sole fighting point was partly to blame but the sole blame fell on Sanji for being careless and letting down his guard.

Sanji’s anger fluctuated between the marine and himself, the marine was highly to blame for Sanji’s current predicament, and if the man wasn’t already floating, dead, somewhere on the ocean’s surface, Sanji would have killed him.

“I’m sorry, Chopper.” He released a sigh and rubbed his face. “This isn’t your fault. I know your just trying to help.” Sanji apologized and felt marginally better when the reindeer wiped away the balancing tears with a tissue. At least he hadn’t cried, Sanji thought, -and every other soul on the ship- was incredibly weak to the young doctor’s tears.

“It’s okay.” Chopper said and gave the cook a watery smile. “Its understandable why you’d be upset.”

Sanji lied back on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. “I won’t be able to cook, will I?” He didn’t mean it as a question but it came out as one.

Chopper shook his head but Sanji didn’t see it. “No, you won’t.”

“I’m sorry, Sanji but you’d only aggravate your leg by constantly moving, and even if you balanced on one leg, you’d be putting too much pressure on your other leg and you risk hurting that leg as well.”

Sanji covered his face with the crook of his elbow and closed his eyes and let the darkness wholly envelop his sight and mind. “How will the crew eat if I can’t cook food?”

Chopper looked sadly at the blonde cook. Chopper desperately wanted to ease some of Sanji’s pain, but the sort of pain Sanji was going through wasn’t any that he could fix or recommend Acetaminophen to fix.

“Maybe Nami or Robin can cook?” Chopper suggested, “Nami lived with her sister and mother for a while, she must have learned how to cook something, right?”

“And Robin reads a lot of books, so maybe she read a cookbook once?” Chopper added, when he saw Sanji’s furious refusal. 

“Or... maybe Brook? He’s been alone for a while so he must have made something.”

“I don’t trust that skeleton near my ingredients. He’s almost as bad as Luffy.” Sanji said unkindly, but Chopper knew the man didn’t mean it. Sanji was just very sensitive when it came to someone other than him, or someone he explicitly allowed, his precious ingredients. In the same way Chopper was about his medicine or any of his medical equipment.

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out, Sanji. You always do.” Chopper said optimistically. He went over to the blonde and patted his stomach encouragingly. There wasn’t much he could say or do to comfort the blonde and instead he went to do something that he was actually capable of doing.

Chopper begun explaining the process of the surgery in attempt to get the man’s mind off of his temporarily halted passion. It took a quite some time, and Sanji accidentally fell asleep halfway through it, but Chopper never noticed.

* * *

 

The next time Sanji woke he found more people in the infirmary than the last time he’d been awake, and oddly enough, they were all nose-deep into books. 

Nami was sitting at the end of the bed, face buried in one of the navigation books she stored in the library. Robin was standing at the doorway, one of her extra arms holding up a book close to her face whilst her real arms held a mug filled with -Sanji guessed from the aroma exuding from it- coffee. Chopper was on his desk, face also buried in a medical book.

Robin had had her face partially obscured by the book and couldn’t see Sanji. Yet somehow she noticed him and informed the rest. “Cook-san is awake.” 

Sanji was mildly disturbed by that.

Nami turned away from her book and looked at him. She smiled slightly at the disheveled way Sanji looked, compared to his usual well-dressed self, seeming him so tousled was unexpectedly refreshing. 

“Hi, Sanji-kun,” She greeted and smiled brightly at Sanji, who felt his insides melt at the adorable sight of Nami, sitting by his side with such a bright smile.

“Nami-san!” Sanji, however happy or excited to see her and Robin, exclaimed.

He was surprised to see the two women in the infirmary, and hurried to look presentable, combing through his messy hair with his fingers -though that just made it messier, but neither Nami or Robin mentioned it- and fixing up his shirt and donning his suit jacket.

“What a surprise to see you here! Did you need something?” Sanji relapsed back to his women loving self and immediately begun shamelessly catering to Nami and Robin’s needs

“No, Sanji-kun,” Nami shook her head and her long bright orange locks shifted from her shoulder to her back. “We just came to see how you were doing. Chopper told us you’d have to go through surgery.”

“Yes,” Remembering his upcoming surgery sobered Sanji up but he smiled reassuringly at the navigator. “But don’t fret, Nami-san! I’ll be back on my feet as soon as possible.” Sanji said, sitting up on the bed and resting his back on the headboard.

“I don’t doubt it, Cook-san.” Robin suddenly spoke up from the door frame and Sanji smiled in her direction.

“Yes, Robin’s right,” Nami said, “but we need to talk about something, Sanji.” Her voice became tense on the last phrase and Sanji felt his smile falter.

“What is it, Nami-san?” Sanji asked, uncertain and slightly nervous.

“Chopper told us after the surgery you wouldn’t be able to walk for a while.” Nami said somberly. “That is unfortunate, but, we need to talk about how you will recuperate after the surgery.”

Sanji’s brows furrowed. “I don’t understand, Nami-san.”

Nami cleared her throat and shuffled on her seat. “What I’m trying to say, Sanji-kun, is that after the surgery, you’ll be incapacitated for four months, and you’ll be unable to cook.”

Sanji’s face darkened.

“Don’t make that face, Sanji-kun. Let me finish first.” Nami said and Sanji slowly schooled his features into a blank face.

"You’re the only person on this ship who can cook and that is incredibly important,  but so is your recuperation process.” Nami said, “Which is why Chopper, Robin and I thought of a solution.

“What solution?”

“One where you can continue healing and cook at the same time.”

Sanji furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t understand.” “What do you mean, Nami-san? What kind of solution is this?”

Here, Nami began to look nervous. “We... thought it would be best if...Zoro would be... taking care of you till you recover.”

If there was any fluid in Sanji’s mouth, he would have spat it out. Or it would have chocked him. He wasn’t sure. 

Nami scrambled to explain before Sanji could utter a word. Sanji was rather surprised by that as he had never seen the orange-haired woman scramble to say anything.

“By taking care of you we obviously don’t mean doing check-ups or things like that." Nami tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and continued, “We only mean that he could be your support as you move around, sort of like a crutch, only a human crutch.”

“Why can’t I just use a normal crutch?” Sanji hadn’t considered using a normal crutch. His mind had conjured an image of him forever confined to a wheelchair, unable to move or be of any help to anyone. 

He turned to Chopper, who had left his book closed on the desk and was now looking at the interaction nervously.

“Because there’s a chance you’d bend you leg and that could end up distorting the bone regeneration.” Chopper answered.

Sanji had a few more questions but Nami cut him off. “Zoro would be there with you as support as you continued making food,“

She added on when she saw Sanji about to protest, “Sanji-kun, please understand. None of us can cook and wasting valuable ingredients trying is not an option. The next island is nearly a month away, if we tried cooking, we’d only end up starving before we get there.”

“This is the only way, Sanji-kun.”

“But why Zoro?” Sanji had to know. It was going to kill him if he didn’t know why him, Zoro, the one person he did not get along with, was going to be in charge of taking care of him. 

“Why that directionally-challenged moss head when you all-,” He addressed the trio, “-know we don’t exactly get along?” Sanji was getting frustrated, exasperated and desperate and a whole lot more of words that expressed his frustration.

“Because he’s the only one who can do it, Sanji-kun.” Nami said gently, “Robin and I can’t do it because we’d be too busy with various things.” 

She pointed at her and the archaeologist by the door, “Chopper and Franky can’t either because Chopper needs to study the new herbs he got from the last island we visited, and Franky is too busy with a new experiment for Sunny.”

“Usopp and Brook are of no help because Usopp is working with Franky and Brook would break under your weight-” Sanji was mildly insulted by Nami’s statement about his weight till he realized Brook was a skeleton and there, indeed, was no way he could support his weight.

“-and Luffy would eat everything in sight, leaving only Zoro, who has the time and can carry your weight and won’t eat anything in sight, though he might drink some.” Nami finished with a pleading look on her face and Sanji knew he was going to agree even though he didn’t like the idea of being in close quarters with the marimo.

“Did the marimo agree to it?”

Nami made a strange face and didn’t meet Sanji’s eyes. “He didn’t say no.”

“But he didn’t say yes either.” Sanji could fill in the obvious blanks in Nami’s statement. Zoro didn’t know about this plan either, and Sanji doubted the man would be so accepting towards it as he was.

“He’ll do it.” Nami said firmly. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Sanji was suddenly overpowered by exhaustion, seeping through his skin and digging itself deep into his bones and limbs, but he still had so many things to say.

He wanted to complain about a number of things, ranging from being ‘out of commission’ as Chopper gracefully put it, to being left in the idiotic, muscle-headed swordsman for four unbelievably long months. 

Sanji also wanted to turn back time to that fight on the deck when the marine snuck up behind him, and this time, he’d swirl around and knock the man’s skull in and save himself all this trouble. And he wanted to smoke a cigarette, so badly. 

But most of all, Sanji wanted to be able to cook like he used to on his own two functional feet rather than rely on a directional challenged green-hair muscle head for help.

But he held back from doing or saying the wishes above, and instead released a heavy sigh, and nodded to Nami. He couldn’t refuse, mostly since he was asked by not only Nami, but Robin and Chopper as well; the three people who he tended to be lenient against.

“I’ll do it,” Sanji conceded grudgingly, “but I can’t guarantee the marimo’s safety.” Sanji warned and Nami let out a delighted squeal and clapped her hands together like a seal.

Nami stood up and briefly hugged Sanji. “Thank you for agreeing to it, Sanji-kun! I don’t know what we would’ve done if you refused.” She said as she pulled back and stood to her full height.

“Luffy would’ve tried to cook.” Sanji dryly joked and they all -Robin included- simultaneously shivered.

“All right, Sanji-kun,” Nami placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled weakly at him. “We have to get going, but we’ll visit soon.” Nami said just before her and Robin departed, leaving Chopper and Sanji alone in the infirmary.

“Why can’t I leave, Chopper?” The sudden thought hit him as his mind replayed Nami’s words over. The way she had phrased her words sounded as if he was going to be confined to bed-rest for quite some time and Sanji did not like the thought of that.

“Hmm?” Chopper turned away from his book again and faced Sanji, a confused look on his adorable face. “Didn’t I tell you? You’re on complete bed-rest for two weeks.” 

Jumping into the ocean and letting the waves drag him away and under suddenly seemed incredibly charming.


	2. Chapter 2: First Lesson in Cooking: Sugar or Salt.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji leaves the infirmary, and Zoro is informed of his temporary situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little slow chapter to get your engines warmed up.
> 
> @Guest, for her or his quick response to the story, this chapter is dedicated for you!

Zoro didn’t hate a lot of things. He found hate was a strong word and on most occasions, he preferred not to use it, but in this situation, he felt saying ‘he hated it’, was justified.

Nami had just been up in the crow’s nest -an oddity on it’s own- and she had casually informed him that he was going to be Sanji’s wheelchair -she phrased it like that, not him- for the next four months, and then she’d descended the ladder and gone about her day, leaving a flummoxed Zoro laying on his stomach, sweat dripping from every pore on his body.

He stood up and chased after her, descending the ladder so quickly, he was surprised he didn’t fall off it. Zoro went to the library -after plenty trial and error- and was surprised to find it empty, devoid of a certain orange-haired vixen.

He then went to the aquarium -after mistaking the crow’s nest to be it- and then to the girls’ bedroom -after he went to the bathroom and found Usopp, halfway through a number 2- and in all those places, he couldn’t find Nami. 

He was beginning to wonder where the orange-haired minx was, when he accidentally went to the kitchen in his search for the infirmary, and to his utter bewilderment, Nami was in there, ruffling through the fridge, and mumbling incoherently to herself, a clipboard and pen in hand.

“What do you mean, ‘I’m going to be the cook’s wheelchair’!?” Zoro hollered and his loud voice startled Nami so much that she knocked her head against the row above.

“Dammit, Zoro!” Nami exclaimed, emerging from inside the fridge, holding a hand up to where her head made contact with the plastic plate. “Don’t scare me like that!”

Zoro ignored her complaint and repeated his earlier question, this time with less volume and intensity.

“I heard you the first time, you know.” Nami grumbled out, before placing her hands on her hips and looking at Zoro with an arched brow. “What do you mean, what do I mean? I already told you, you’re the only one capable of doing it, so you’re doing it.”

“Doing what exactly?” Zoro held himself back from yelling or tearing his hair out. “Carrying him off to his every need like some sort of maiden?”

A surprised look appeared on Nami’s face. “I’m surprised you know the word ‘maiden’.” She teased evilly and Zoro growled warningly at her.

“Fine, fine.” She raised her hands in surrender. “You won’t be carrying him everywhere exactly. Just to the places he’s absolutely incapable of getting to himself. Mainly around the kitchen.”

“Is that why you’re here? To baby-proof the place so the ero-cook doesn’t hurt himself?” Zoro spitefully asked, his voice harsh and biting.

Nami, already used to this, ignored his tone and said, “No. I’m making sure we have enough ingredients as a request from Sanji. He won’t be able to cook for the next two weeks so we need to be prepared.”

“Why me though?” Zoro abruptly turned the conversation back to what led him there. He thought of giving examples of perfectly capable members but the contradiction of their capabilities and the current situation made him hold his tongue.

Nami gave him a ‘really?’ look, and his face pinched in annoyance. That was a dumb question to ask.

Luffy would obviously eat anything he got his hands on. Nami and Robin wouldn’t be allowed on account for Sanji’s pride and dignity (don’t mistake his words. Zoro wasn’t saying the two women were weak- on the contrary, he knew from experience the two were anything but weak- but Sanji would never let a woman do anything as unsightly as carry him around. He was most likely to say something incredibly cheesy and Sanji-like and end up getting hurt.) 

Usopp and Franky would probably get grease on the food and Sanji would quite literally bite their heads off. Brook didn’t seem all too trustworthy around food and Chopper was too cute and probably had his own work to do, leaving him, the one crew member who wouldn’t swallow everything in sight, who wouldn’t get  grease on the food or be susceptible to the cook’s charms and was fairly trustworthy and uncute, as the only option.

“Okay, that was a stupid question. But what am I supposed to do? Carry him back and forth from the fridge and the storeroom to the gas cooker?” Zoro asked.

“If it comes to that, I’m guessing, yes you might have to.” At Zoro’s horrified look, she added exasperatedly. “I don’t really know, Zoro. It depends on Sanji-kun and what he’ll need you to do. I can’t guarantee he won’t do that, and I can’t guarantee he will.”

Nami moved from standing beside the fridge and went to sit down on the dining table. Zoro didn’t follow but he moved closer and away from the entryway.

“Listen Zoro, Sanji is actually injured this time, and he won’t recover as soon as he usually does. It’s going to take time, and we need to help him through it or...” She paused and looked up at him, “I know you two don’t get along, but for once, can’t you put your pride aside and help Sanji? Help him not because I’m asking but because he’s your nakama and he needs you.”

Zoro felt guilt for acting out like a child. Nami was right. Sanji needed their help, and he had to put his pride aside and help his nakama. It was the right thing to do.

“Fine.” Zoro relented and watched as Nami’s face lit up. “But I cannpt guarantee his safety and general well-being. I won’t hit him, but anything past that is completely on the table.” Zoro said over his shoulder as he walked away from Nami and left the galley-la. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he didn’t stop walking.

Nami watched him go, and chuckled lightly to herself. If anything productive were to come out of Sanji’s incapacitation, it was definitely going to be his and Zoro’s relationship, and Nami was, without a doubt, going to be paying very close attention to the two males.

“Can I at least get my cigarettes? If I’m going to be in bed for two weeks, the least you can let me do is smoke.” Sanji complained to Chopper.

It was a day after he’d been told of his temporary condition and Sanji wanted out of the infirmary. He’d been denied his cigarettes three times but he wasn’t going to give up.

“Please, Chopper.” Staying inside the infirmary brought a boredom unlike any other on the blonde. He had half the mind to pull back the blanket and feel his broken leg for the broken bones, but he held back, because it sounded incredibly stupid and like something Luffy would do. Instead, Sanji fought to keep the withdrawal urges back, and looked forward to the times Robin visited to inquire some miscellaneous detail concerning their lunch.

Oddly enough as soon as he thought of the dark-haired archeologist, she walked in with a pen and small notepad in hand.

“Hello, Cook-san, Chopper,” Robin greeted, nodding slightly to both males. She closed the door and went to sit on the spare chair Chopper had brought in for the crew when they visited Sanji.

“Robin-chwan! What a pleasure it is to see you on this wonderful day!” Sanji praised. “You’re presence has managed to brighten this room and my day!”

Robin chuckled and turned to look at Chopper. “What were you two discussing before I came in?”

“Sanji wants his cigarettes, and I told him no smoking inside the infirmary!” Chopper sent a glare at Sanji. “There’s valuable, flammable, explosive medicine here, and I can’t have them spontaneously combust into flames thanks to your cigarette!”

“But isn’t he going to suffer from withdrawal, Doctor-san? Isn’t withdrawal added onto a damaged leg, plus his inability to move a bit much for our poor cook?” Robin asked, surprisingly vouching for the blonde’s bad habit.

Chopper hesitated at that. “But...”

“I’m sure you have a wheelchair, right, Doctor-san? We can get Sanji on it so that he doesn’t aggravate his foot, and I can wheel him outside, where he can get his cigarettes and smoke, away from your valuable medicine and equipment.” Robin persuaded with the brown reindeer, and to Sanji’s surprise, the young male relented, and went to grab the wheelchair, folded and placed carefully in a closet.

“Thank you, Robin-chwan!” Sanji continued his praises as Robin wheeled him out of the infirmary and towards his room where he retrieved his awaited pack of cigarettes and gratefully lit one, inhaling deeply, Sanji held the smoke in his lungs as Robin wheeled his out of the men’s room and back onto the deck.

Sanji was thankful for the change in scenery, and he greedily drank it up, alternating between deep puffs of his cigarette, and deep inhales of the cool, ocean air. Sanji had never been too far away from the ocean for most of his life, but spending a day without seeing the large mass of water, or feeling the salty air hit his skin, he didn’t feel quite at home.

He almost forgot Robin was standing beside him, gazing out at the ocean just as he was. Luckily, he remembered the dark-haired woman’s reason to visit him in the infirmary, and he asked her about it.

“Ah, that was because I wanted to ask you about some details for lunch today.” Robin said.

A thought hit Sanji. “Why don’t I go with you to the kitchen and help you prepare it? I’m out of the infirmary, anyways, and it’ll be a good way for me to gain some experience with a wheelchair.”

Robin thought of it for a moment before conceding and wheeling Sanji to the galley-la, where they began preparing lunch. Robin handled the ingredients with the guidance of Sanji and together they prepared ‘Fire Roasted Chile and Garlic Burgers' for the crew. Luffy devoured them in a matter of seconds, while the rest of the crew ate the burgers at a somewhat reasonable rate. There was a missing party at the dining table, however, and that irked Sanji.

He filled up a small platter with a couple of burgers and placed it in his lap, before wheeling himself down to where Zoro was, practicing on the deck. Sanji happened to glance by the stairs and was grateful for Franky's and Usopp's quick thinking to adjust the stairs and create a ramp where it wold be easy for Sanji to wheel himself down and up the ship with ease. It was incredibly thoughtful, and Sanji made a memo to do something nice for the two males, but for the time being he had to give the burgers to a stupid green-haired musclehead.


	3. Chapter 3: Beginners Need Assistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji comes face-to-face with a harsh reality and he undergoes his surgery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did i mention i know nothing of bones and healing and surgery and that this story is going to be rather slow burn?
> 
> And it is rather slow and dull on this chapter since I know y'all was expecting zosan action but look forward to chap 4 because sneak preview: it will have therapy, cooking, aggravated Sanji, annoyed Zoro, and shit ton zosan.

Sanji wheeled himself out of the galley-la/kitchen area, and went downstairs in search of a certain green-haired bastard. Franky and Usopp had created a medium-sized ramp about 5-6 feet wide was roughly the same length as the staircase connecting the second floor to the deck.

The two inventors had temporarily removed the slide and replaces it with the ramp for Sanji’s quick and easy movement between the two floors. They had also taken Sanji’s wheelchair and upgraded it. The newly created mechanism could now easily move through all the flooring on the ship, be it grass, wood or linoleum. 

Sanji was incredibly for the upgrade and the new addition on the ship, though he felt bad for taking away a small piece of enjoyment from the children on the ship, but he looked past it and held on to the thought that with his upcoming surgery, he wouldn’t need the chair anymore and the kids would get back the swing.

Unfortunately, there was one glaringly obvious issue with the impending surgery: he would have to be in the care of the idiotic, direction-challenged, green-haired swordsman, and Sanji despised the mere thought of being in the swordsman presence for a longer time than necessary. 

He knew why Nami had suggested Zoro to take care of him, but his view on the whole idea hadn’t changed since their conversation in the infirmary. It was obviously going to be a disaster of comical proportions. Zoro and him in each other’s company for a longer time than was absolutely required spelled disaster in large, bold letters.

Obviously, he knew the swordsman wasn’t wholly in charge of well-being,(just in supporting his weight and helping him around the kitchen. It felt somehow degrading and humiliating.) Chopper and a few members of the crew would also assist, but the sole job of making sure Sanji didn’t injure himself on some stupid act of bravado fell upon Zoro’s shoulders, and Sanji didn’t like leaving the swordsman with that much over him.

Sanji had gone down the ramp and had wheeled himself to where he found Zoro napping on the grassy flooring, hands tucked behind his head acting as a cushion against the hard wood of the ship, feet crossed at the ankles, head tilted skywards, and his mouth was partly open and loud snores frequently exited from the exposed orifice. He also had a snot bubble.

Sanji snorted lowly at the sight and came closer. He got close enough that the two front wheels of his wheelchair nearly brushed the toned, strong muscle of Zoro’s thigh.

Sanji balanced himself on the side of his injury, and took extra care not to put any pressure on his leg. He held the plate of burgers with one hand and lifted his non-injured leg up in the air, bringing it to chest-height, before dropping it, heel first, on Zoro’s abdomen and startling the larger man awake.

“What the-” Zoro shot up and grabbed one of the swords lying next to him, unsheathing it faster than Sanji’s eyes could follow, Zoro held out the katana with clear intent of killing whatever being had dared to wake him so rudely.

“Put that away before you hurt yourself, marimo.” Sanji said and brought back his foot and carefully re-arranged himself on the chair. He let go of the plate and pushed Zoro’s sword away from his face but the man held on firmly and pointed it directly at Sanji’s throat.

“What do you want, Ero-cook?” Zoro asked venomously. He didn’t like being woken up with a heel kick to the gut (then again, who would?) and holding Shuusui plus seeing the perpetrator right in front of him made him want to move his sword and slice the blonde cook. He held himself back and looked at the blonde menacingly.

“Get that sword out of my face, marimo, before I kick you again.” Sanji lit another cigarette and took a puff. Zoro reluctantly moved it away and returned the katana to its scabbard. “Here.” Sanji exhaled and indicated with a nod of his head at the burgers in his lap. “You skipped lunch.”

Zoro kept Shuusui beside Wado and Sandai Kitetsu. He scratched the back of head before letting out a yawn. “That’s why you kicked me in the gut? Cause I skipped lunch?” Zoro stretched his arms above his head and leaned side to side, going remarkably low before sitting straight and letting his hands fall back to his lap.

Sanji took another puff. “Yes, and I will do it again if you don’t take these burgers.”

Zoro rolled his eyes but did as Sanji said and took the burgers from the blonde’s lap. Sanji felt Zoro’s fingers brush against the material of his trousers and he resisted the urge to flinch. “Take the plate back when you finish eating.”

Sanji exhaled the smoke in small rings before holding the death stick in his mouth by his teeth and grabbed the main wheels on the chair. He turned around and began heading to the ramp. He was halted by Zoro speaking again through a mouthful of barely chewed burger.

“Hey, how long am I going to be taking care of you? Did Chopper tell you anything?” 

Sanji didn’t turn. “No. He didn’t tell me anything. Why?”

Thankfully Zoro had swallowed and spoke through a clear, and empty mouth. “Just wondering.”

“Mmh.” Sanji resumed wheeling himself away and up the ramp and into the kitchen. It didn’t occur to him that that (ignoring the kick and sword to the throat business) was the first time in a while that he and Zoro had talked to each other without petty insults being thrown or swords clashing against finely polished dress shoes.

* * *

The day of Sanji’s surgery came sooner than he wanted or expected. He had been through a few operations, a few sessions inside Chopper’s infirmary, unconscious and going under the knife, but he had never had a _real_ operation before. He was incredibly anxious.

“I’m going to give you some anesthetic to help you with the pain and help you relax.” Chopper said. He turned away from Sanji and ruffled through some of the medicine and equipment he had laid out prior to Sanji’s arrival.

Sanji said nothing and clenched and un-clenched his jaw repeatedly. He used the feeling of the muscle in his mandible flexing to clear his mind off any bleak thoughts. Sanji trusted Chopper with his life (quite literally) and had absolute faith in the young man’s medical skills, but thinking of going under anesthesia and having his leg operated on made him slightly nauseous. It turned out he was squeamish on operations. Specifically his own.

Chopper must have smelt his anxiety (it was exuding off him in torrential waves) and gave him a smile. “Don’t worry, Sanji.” His smile was warm but his tone was hard and firm. “It’ll be over soon. I won’t let anything bad happen. I promise.”

“Yeah,” Sanji nodded, “I know. I trust you, Chopper.”

The young reindeer flushed but began administering the medicine. Sanji laid there on the operating table and slowly began to feel the effects of the anesthesia pull him under. He blinked slowly and looked at the double-vision of the ceiling. Sanji swore he saw little orange boxes on the ceiling before the anesthesia hit him and knocked him out.

* * *

The next time Sanji opened his eyes, it was to an orange red ceiling and the unsettling grogginess in his body. He blinked a couple of times and turned his head to the left. Chopper’s usual seat was empty. He turned to his right, and was met with the same results: he was alone in the infirmary.

Sanji groaned and tried sitting up. He had been moved from the operating bed and back to the bed. He didn’t make it very far and lied back down. Sanji’s body and mind were sluggish from the drug and it would take a few hours to completely wear off. 

The blonde’s memory slowly wormed its way back and Sanji remembered his anxiety prior to the surgery and he tried sitting back up again to see how his leg looked and felt like.

Chopper had told him to wear shorts so that he didn’t have to cut through one of Sanji’s expensive suit pants, and Sanji had refused the idea of removing them inside the infirmary and being operated on in his underwear. His shorts clearly showed where he’d been operated on and it wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought it would be.

Chopper had covered it with a bandage but Sanji stretched for it and slowly pulled the stained piece of cloth off. Sanji’s curiosity had gotten too much for him to handle and he desperately wanted to see how his leg looked.

Sanji pulled the cloth back enough and observed the wound. There was a thin lengthy line ranging from near his patella down to a few centimeters away from his ankle. The thin line was faintly pink and the incision near his ankle was slowly turning red with blood: Sanji knew he had to hurry up or he’d begin bleeding heavily.

There wasn’t much to see but Sanji gingerly touched the area around the incision and was rather surprised to feel small metallic nobs underneath his skin. The nobs were few in number and ran directly down his tibia systematically and his fibula. The bone was set back in place but the metal nobs held it together and Sanji idly wondered if he would have metal inside his skin till the end of his life.

Sanji had expected for his leg to be cased in a cast, but was incredibly grateful at not seeing the piece of plaster. There was some slight pain around the wound but Sanji could only faintly feel it. It seemed the anesthesia was still running through his system. 

Sanji heard footsteps approaching and he quickly returned the bandage and lied back on the bed. He tried his best to look innocent as the door opened and Chopper walked in, hooves clasped around a mug of sweet-smelling tea.

“Ah! Sanji! You’re awake!” Chopper exclaimed and went to his desk to put the mug down. He went over to Sanji’s side and checked over the man’s vitals. Sanji passed all of Chopper’s test and watched apprehensively as the young reindeer went lower to check on his major wound.

“Sanji...Did you remove the bandage and look at the wound?” Chopper asked, his voice deathly low and Sanji could hear him faintly growling.

“I was curious!” Sanji tried to defend himself but it was too late. Chopper had fallen into his ‘mother hen’ mode and had begun fussing over the wound, indelicately removing the ruined bandage, Chopper checked the wound for any sign of infection. Deeming it clear, Chopper cleaned the wound and made sure it was dry before placing a new bandage on and making Sanji wince. The anesthesia had worn off and he was beginning to truly feel the pain in his leg.

“Don’t do that again, Sanji! You could get infected!” Chopper cried. “If you get infected, you could end up with no leg!” 

Sanji paled. “Tell me you’re joking, Chopper. There’s no way that could happen...right?”

“It could!” Chopper whirled around to look at Sanji. “You could have gotten the wound infected! It would have been really bad! I’d have to do more surgery and tests and you wouldn’t be able to walk for a long while! Don’t do that again. I’m serious, Sanji. That was incredibly risky.”

Sanji rarely felt guilty when he got admonished, but the guilt wracked its way through him when Chopper scolded him. He admitted removing the bandage and looking at the wound just because he was impatient and wanted to see how his leg looked was childish and stupid and incredibly irresponsible. Sanji was ashamed.

“I’m sorry, Chopper. I’m really sorry. It was a stupid thing for me to do. I don’t know what I was thinking. It won’t happen again, I swear.”

Chopper still looked doubtful but he nodded his head and sat down on his chair, the sweet tea rapidly cooling beside him long forgotten. 

“You’ll need to be monitored overnight so that I can be sure there’s no infection and to check your blood pressure, heart rate, breathing and temperature, in case of a fever.” Chopper said. “After that, you’ll need to take antibiotics to fight against any possible diseases or infections. Diseases are rare in bone-fractures but I’d prefer to be sure. You won’t need to take them for long, just enough to ease your pain, but if you feel the pain increasing or see any signs of additional swelling, change of color or a foul odor, tell me immediately, alright?”

“Yes, Doctor.” Sanji nodded. After his foolish mistake, he was incredibly focused on anything Chopper said in regards to his leg. He did not want to risk making another foolish decision and end up losing his leg. The thought terrified him just as much as the thought of injury befalling one of his precious hands and rendering him unable to cook.

“You’ll need to do some physical therapy that will help strengthen the muscles and stretch the muscles in your calf region. I think Zoro would be better at it than I would.” Chopper said, adding the last part as an afterthought to himself but Sanji caught it.

“That marimo is going to do physical therapy on me?” Sanji exclaimed from the bed and vehemently shook his head in denial. “I’d rather not, Chopper.”

“You can’t refuse, Sanji. If you don’t exercise those muscles, they’ll become stiff and it’ll be hard for you to move. Zoro is good at physical therapy, he’ll help you, Sanji.”

“I doubt that swordsman is good for anything other than aimlessly swinging weights around.” Sanji retorted back.

Chopper looked exasperated. “Please do it, Sanji. It’s for your own good. Please.” 

Sanji was honestly weak against a pleading Chopper. “Fine.” Sanji finally said. “I’ll do it, but if he end up being a piece of shit swordsman, I’m quitting immediately.”

Chopper brightened significantly. “You’ll need to take a lot of calcium and vitamin D. Also a lot of protein and remember you can’t put weight on your leg. Only your toes can touch the ground and have any slight if any weight. There should be no weight on your whole leg till it heals.”

“Okay, but Chopper, I have a question.” Sanji said. “The metal nobs inside my legs, are they permanent or temporary?”

“That depends on how your bone heals. The nobs are there to make sure your tibia stays in place and repairs itself properly. I can’t say if it’s going to be temporary or permanent until more time passes.” 

“Okay. So how long am I going to be moving with crutches?” Sanji began thinking of how he’d go to the bathroom with crutches. Or if he’d be any help to the crew with the crutches getting in his way.

“I can’t exactly tell you, but it won’t be long. Everyone here seems to have incredibly fast healing bodies, so at worst, maybe three weeks or four. At best, two.” Chopper didn’t miss the relief flooding over Sanji’s features. “But Zoro will have to support you till your leg heals completely.”

That made Sanji’s face darken.

* * *

After staying overnight in the infirmary and having Chopper do numerous tests on him, Sanji was finally allowed to return to the men’s bunk and he did so with great joy and relief.

The men’s bunk was mainly a pig sty (excluding his side) and Sanji’s lip never failed to curl in disgust whenever he saw the revolting sight of their room. But Sanji didn’t even mind the odd stench coming from Usopp’s bunk. Or the stray clothes lying on the floor -underwear and outer wear, dirty or not. Or even the weird way Brook’s bunk was made perfectly to suit his height yet his bony feet stuck out from the bunk. Sanji didn’t mind any of that, he was just glad to be out of the infirmary and far away from the smell of medicine, disinfectant and that bloody bed.

“Hey! Sanji’s back!” Usopp exclaimed from his position on the highest bunk.

“Really? Sanji-san, welcome back!” Brook joined Usopp in his enthusiasm and greeted him enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I’m back.” Sanji said with a smile. “But what are you two doing inside here?”

It was rare anyone of the males returned to the bedroom unless it was for sleep, or a change of clothes. 

“I was getting some plans I drew for my new weapon.” Usopp said and he waved up the papers grasped in his hand. Sanji could faintly see the design for the sniper’s weapon. 

“And I was taking a nap. All that sun has drained my energy.” Brook said, lifting one bony arm up in a slight-wave. “Though I have nothing to be drained of, yohohoho!” 

Usopp and Sanji resisted the urge to roll their eyes and groan out-loud. 

“Would you like me to make you a drink?” Sanji asked, hobbling over to his locker and extracting a fresh pair of clothes. He wanted to take a shower but decided to post-pone it till later in the evening.

“You would? Really?” Sanji heard rustling  and a thud behind him and figured Brook had shot up in bed and knocked his skull on the top bunk.

“Yeah, sure.” Sanji looked over his shoulder at Brook and smiled widely. “Think of it as my apology for not cooking anything for the past week.”

Sanji turned back to the mirror and finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulling off his vest. Usopp and Brook shared astonished looks behind Sanji’s back. 

‘Is there something wrong with him?’ Usopp mouthed at Brook who shrugged his shoulders.

‘I don’t know. He’s acting rather odd. Maybe it’s raining pigs outside.’

Usopp cast a quick glance outside through the small window on the door and shook his head. ‘No, it’s still sunny outside.’

‘Maybe he’d p-p-possessed.” Brook suggested shakily.

Usopp visibly shivered. 

“I can hear you two, you know that right?” Sanji interrupted. He wore his vest and a new loose dark orange shirt and some light brown shorts. Chopper had given him direct orders not to wear any material longer than knee-length because it would bother the wound.

Usopp laughed nervously, but Sanji ignored it and grabbed his crutches and limped out of the men’s room, telling Brook to meet him in the kitchen for his drink. Usopp as well.

The door hadn’t fully closed before Usopp and Brook were on their feet and following Sanji to the kitchen.

* * *

“Shouldn’t Zoro be helping you and all? I thought that’s what Nami said.” Usopp stated from one of the bar stools. He had let down his hair and the dark-brown curly locks fell in thick waves over the sniper’s shoulders and back.

Sanji hopped over to the cupboards and relied his weight on his uninjured leg and crutch and used his free hand to stretch into the cupboard and grab two glasses. “I can make a drink without the marimo’s help.” Sanji kept the glasses down on the counter and hopped over to the fridge. He unlocked it and took out fresh apples, oranges and grapes and the alcohol he kept refrigerated for such cases.

Usopp and Brook shared another look.

“Just be careful not to strain yourself, Sanji-san.” Brook said carefully. “You just got out of surgery. Chopper wouldn’t be happy if he found out you were cooking again without some help.”

Sanji slammed the paper holding the apples on the counter hard. “Dammit! I can’t just make a drink for my friends without talking about how delicate and weak I’ve become?”

Brook flinched back but Sanji didn’t see it. “I’m sorry, Sanji-san...I...Of course you can...”

Sanji sighed heavily and rubbed his face. “No...I’m sorry, Brook. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s alright, Sanji-san, after everything you’ve been through, its understandable that you’d be stressed.” 

The tension in Sanji’s shoulders slowly dissipated and the blonde released another sigh. It was impossible to make anything without additional help. Sanji cursed softly under his breath. He had been incredibly imprudent and fool-hardy thinking somehow, miraculously, he would be able to do everything like he used to and would show that he didn’t need Zoro’s or anyone else help, but he was mistaken. 

“Do you want some help, Sanji?” Usopp asked tensely. He half-expected Sanji to lash out at him but was surprised when the blonde nodded slightly. 

“That...That will be great, Usopp.”

In the end, his rash decision had done nothing but humiliate him and make him seem incredibly silly. Sanji learned the harsh truth as Usopp moved from the stool and came to help him that he was truly incapable of cooking for his crew without help, and that broke Sanji inside.


	4. Fourth Lesson: The Early Bird Gets The Worm.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They cook, they dine, they go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to back chapters!? like what??? I must really love you guys then
> 
> Dedicated to AlfredKvaak, BelowTheSurface, Clary, Alechan111, RaikoUchiha, Lizzie, Guest and Shuttup_hoe_im_gay (incredible name btw) y'all make my day, year, week month ect with your lovely comments. This chapter an all the ones to come are for you.

Zoro was not a morning person. He despised waking up earlier than the usual time his mind and body were accustomed to, and doing so kept him in a foul mood. 

Zoro had made sure every single soul on the ship knew he was not a morning person, and would never be, unless they were in danger and needed his help or if one of the crew’s life was threatened. Then, Zoro would wake up.

Sanji, being one of the crew and a main power point of it, knew that as well. Yet he descended from his bed, grabbed one crutch and supported his weight on it, took the other crutch and proceeded to stab Zoro in the stomach with the end.

Zoro groaned and swatted the metal away, but that only made Sanji jab him more incessantly. Zoro groaned again and turned away from Sanji, and in his groggy state, he offered his unprotected back to the blonde male.

A loud smack resounded throughout the men’s room, closely followed by a yelp and a shout of, “What the hell are you doing!?” from Zoro.

“Waking you up.” Sanji deadpanned and flipped the crutch around and kept the handle underneath his armpit. He hobbled over to his trunk and flipped it oped. 

“You hit me with your crutch!” Zoro got up out of the bunk and went around to stand behind Sanji, fuming. 

Sanji scoffed and picked out a light blue shirt that contrasted perfectly with his sandy blonde hair and faded shorts. He hated that he couldn’t wear his professional, classy suits and was fastened to wearing shorts.

“Yeah, no shit, smartass, and the sky is blue. Quite an astute observation.”

Zoro growled. “Don’t be a dick. Why’d you hit me with your crutch?”

“Because, you dumb shit,” Sanji whirled around to look at Zoro, his clothes carelessly strewn over his shoulder. “You weren’t waking up and I need to go prepare breakfast.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Sanji released a small snort from his nose. “You really are dumb.” Sanji leaned his weight on his good leg and lifted one crutch and pointed the flat end at Zoro. “You see this? This prevents me from waking up on my own and going to make breakfast for the crew. And since Nami-san said I was to not cook by myself again till my leg healed, I’m left with you. Do you understand me so far?”

Zoro growled in response.

“I have to wake up early to make food for the crew. I can’t do it alone. Thus I need your help. Understand?” Sanji punctuated each word slowly and deliberately just to irritate Zoro and make a fool out of him. 

“I understand, you dumb-cook.” Zoro managed to hold back his anger and withheld from beating Sanji into the next day. He sighed and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. “Fine. I’ll get changed and meet you in the kitchen.”

Sanji didn’t bother to reply and hobbled out of the men’s room. Miraculously, the remaining men inside the room had not woken up amidst all the commotion, and continued to sleep peacefully as Sanji went to take a shower and Zoro got changed and went to the kitchen.

* * *

 

“About damned time.” Zoro said through a yawn. He didn’t bother to cover his mouth and Sanji saw all the way down his throat and up to his uvula. His nose crinkled. How disgusting could one man be?

“Close your damn mouth, marimo. Not everyone needs to be disgusted by your face this early in the morning.” Sanji made his way to the counter and began thinking of what to make for breakfast.

Zoro sneered at Sanji, though the male was too focused in his thoughts to notice. “So? What am I supposed to do here? Carry you around like a princess and help you make a pansy drink?”

“You can start by shutting the hell up.” Sanji said calmly, still very deep in his thoughts. “And if you dare try to carry me, I’ll knock your face in and make it uglier than it already is.”

Zoro did his best not to whip out his swords and repeatedly stab Sanji in the chest. 

“Go to the storeroom and bring me the flour, dill and green onions. And some salt and the pepper container. Its red and labeled ‘Spicy Red Pepper’, just above the salt.”

Zoro grumbled under his breath but moved to follow. He entered the storeroom and was surprised at the large array of spices and shelved food Sanji stored on the ship.

There were four spacious wide rows bolted onto the wall. Each row, from what Zoro could see held a different kind of ingredient, spice, herb or a simple container. The first row, where the salt was judging by the air-proof container marked ‘Salt’, was stacked with an array of things from: salt, sugar, a large amount of different kinds of tea, a handful of cups, and other things Zoro couldn’t quite remember the name but he recognized them.

The second row was far more stocked than the first and spanned from the entryway all the way down to the other end of the wall filled with different spices, herbs, from dried, to packaged, to some in jars or containers till the ones uncovered and bare. Zoro recognized a handful of them: Cayenne pepper, Cloves, Cinnamon, Ginger, Paprika and Parsley. 

The third row was simply filled with packaged foods piled high up till they touched the bottom part of the next row. Zoro figured that was where all the flour, baking materials, oils were kept. Which only left the fourth row but unfortunately, that row was well out Zoro’s sight.

“What, did you get lost inside a damn storeroom, shitty-marimo?” Sanji called out from behind him and Zoro startled but didn’t let the blonde notice. He’d been too mesmerized by the wide collection of foods, herbs and spices and had forgotten all about Sanji’s demands.

“Shut up, ero-cook, I didn’t get lost.”

Zoro grabbed the salt, the dill and the flour but was puzzled on where the green onions were.

“Oi, cook, where are the onions? I can’t see them.”

“Oh,” Sanji turned to look up from the oven. He looked at Zoro then up at the fourth row. “It’s up on the fourth row. I thought you’d be able to see it.”

“Hah? Why is it all the way there? Shouldn’t it be on the first or second where it’ll be easy to reach?”

“It’s precisely cause of that that it isn’t on the first or second row.” Sanji moved away from the oven and grabbed the crutch he’d kept aside on the cupboard near the sink. He kept it under his arm and went into the storeroom, his neck bent and eyes looking up at the fourth row, he continued, “If it was so east to get to, then Luffy would have no problem getting to them, would he?”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Luffy want to eat green onions?” Zoro turned and looked at the blonde’s back. 

“Green onions aren’t the only thing on the fourth row. There are other vegetables and fruits there. Luffy could come in here when I’m out and go looking for food, and since the fridge is always locked, he’d go to the store and when he opens the door, the first thing he would be met with is free, edible fruits and vegetables.” Sanji moved away and out of the storeroom and went to the cupboard beside Zoro. He got out two tins and some wooden spoons and a measuring cup and oil.

Sanji looked up at Zoro when the larger male hadn’t moved to get the onions. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get the onions. I have to make breakfast quickly before Luffy wakes up.”

Zoro went and got the onions after a few trial-and-error. He gave them to the cook who had set up his station and had adorned a pink ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron. The blonde sent him to the fridge and told him to bring the packed spinach, the cheddar cheese, the packaged bacon, and the cottage cheese.

Sanji proceeded to order Zoro to grease the glass baking tin and after he was done with that to properly measure the other ingredients and mix them together with the cheese, spinach, dill, flour while Sanji cooked the bacon and mixed the egg, salt and pepper in the other tin.

They were at it for some time and after the bacon had cooked and Zoro had completed Sanji’s instructions, the odd mixture of spinach, egg and excess cheese was kept in the oven and the timer was set.

“So...” Zoro said after a long silence filled with both of them staring at the timer slowly tick away. The noise amplified by the lack of movement from both males. “What now?”

“Now,” Sanji looked from the ticker and at Zoro. “Now we set the table and wait for Luffy to wake up.”

* * *

 

“Meat! Meat! Meat! Sanji, Meat!” Luffy barged through the door and went to his seat near the head of the table. 

“Calm down, Luffy! The food is not going anywhere.” Usopp followed after his captain and also took his seat on the opposite side of where Luffy had sat.

“Yohohoho! With Luffy-san here, I don’t think that is true, Usopp-san.” Brook waltzed in and went to the empty seat at the head of the table, next to Luffy’s and sat down. 

“Super! That is true, with Luffy its a battle to the death when it comes to food.” Franky added in as he also went to take a seat with Robin, Chopper and Nami following close behind.

Nami, Chopper and Robin simply nodded their agreement, and collectively ignored Luffy’s whines and complaints.

“Shut up, Luffy. The food is done.” Sanji said from the kitchen. He shook his head good-naturedly and turned to the swordsman. “Go take the casserole to the table. And don’t forget the knife.”

Zoro felt like he should complain bout being used as a servant or a mule, but then he remembered that was the job Nami had given and though he said a job, Zoro knew the orange-haired woman truly meant a servant. Sanji’s servant.

Zoro had already set up the table prior to the crew’s entrance thus the only thing that remained was the main dish and their presence on the table. Sanji had also given him instructions to watch over the casserole and keep it from Luffy’s grabby hands till the others had served themselves a piece first.

Zoro grudgingly followed Sanji’s commands and held Luffy back till everyone had served -excluding himself and Sanji. Then Luffy ate the remaining casserole whole. 

Zoro went back to where Sanji was. He was vaguely curious on what the man had been upto since he left. Zoro found Sanji, balanced on his good side at the cooker, with one crutch as his right leg was folded at the knee and raised a few inches from the floor, and his right hand was busy flipping an identifiable piece of food. The kitchen smelled faintly like nuts and crisp toast.

“What are you doing?” Zoro broke the silence and rested his butt on the edge of the counter. 

“Making food, what does it look like I’m doing?” Sanji sassily retorted back and continued flipping the food. Now that Zoro had gotten closer he could make out Sanji’s hand gripping something -probably a spatula- and occasionally there was the faint sound of sizzling.

“I can see that, idiot-cook. I’m asking why are you doing it without my help? I thought you weren’t supposed to strain your leg.”

“What is this, is the marimo worried about me?” Sanji teased.

“Shut up, cook. Its just a question, don’t get your panties confused.”

Sanji pressed down on the food once more before switching the cooker off and turning to face Zoro. “Get me a plate first.”

“I’m not your maid, you know that, right?” Zoro said but went to get Sanji the plate either way.

“Didn’t you say I’m not supposed to do things without your help? So, I’m using you and your help to get me a plate.”

Zoro didn’t bother asking what kind of  plate Sanji wanted and chose the first one that his eyes laid upon. “Shitty cook.” Was all he said in response before handing the plate over to Sanji.

“It’s a simple dish. It didn’t require many ingredients or cooking time or extra help. It was simply something I could do on my own.” Sanji said as he removed whatever it was he was cooking and kept it on the plate. He set it on the counter beside the cooker and shakily went to the sink, pan in hand.

 “What is that?” Zoro looked over at the plate and was confused on what the food was. 

“Waffles. Almond waffles.” Sanji said from the sink.

“What the hell are waffles?”

“Try one and see.”

Zoro moved to the plate and picked a waffle. He eyed it warily for a moment before bringing the waffle to his mouth and taking a bite. Zoro had to resist from releasing a pleased sound. The waffle tasted incredible. It was somehow soft and fluffy, yet when he chewed it there were different kinds of flavors exploding in his mouth. He could also catch faint pieces of skin and little pieces of nuts on his tongue. Zoro figured those pieces belonged to the almond.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Sanji had turned and was watching Zoro with a small smirk on his lips.

Zoro paused for a second and faked thinking about it. “Could be better.” He said knowing full well it’d piss the blonde off. And it did. The smirk disappeared from Sanji’s lips and his eyes darkened. Zoro was expecting things to be hurled in his direction but the cook just rolled his eyes and turned away.

“I shouldn’t have asked a neanderthal like you for an opinion. That was my own fault.”

Zoro considered hurling the plate full of waffles at Sanji.

“Who are these waffles for? I thought everyone had already eaten the weird spinach crap.”

“Its not spinach crap, you idiot. It’s a spinach, cheese, and egg casserole and everyone has eaten minus you and me.”

“This is for us?”

“What? would you prefer a bottle of sake and onigiri instead?” 

“No. I’m just surprised you bothered to cook an extra meal for the two of us.”

“It’s my job, marimo.” Sanji got a cigarette from his shorts pocket and lit one, taking a well-deserved drag from it, Sanji held the smoke and exhaled  it out of the small window above the sink. “I’m supposed to make sure everyone has eaten and that they are satisfied. And that includes you.”

Zoro knew -the entire crew did- how important cooking was to Sanji, but he hadn’t thought the blonde took it that seriously. To care for every single person on the crew, each with different appetites and eating habits, and to somehow manage to satisfy them all in one sitting was incredible. Zoro knew even if he studied cooking for the rest of his life, he’d never be able to do what Sanji does, to put all his heart and soul into each and every meal. But yet, Sanji did, and he did it with every meal, snack or drink he creates, and such passion and dedication coming from the blonde male impressed Zoro and he felt a grudging respect come over him for the blonde cook.

“Thanks, I guess.” Zoro hesitantly said. It wasn’t that it was his first time saying thank you to someone. He’d said it plenty of times during his life. It was just he’d never said thank you to Sanji, and if he had ever, his memory was utter shit and he couldn’t remember doing so. 

Seeing the astonished look on Sanji’s face kind of irritated him though. “What?” He snapped at Sanji.

Sanji didn’t look remotely affected by Zoro’s snappish ask and continued staring at him with wide eyes -well, eye since his other eye was shadowed by a curtain of golden hair. 

“I’ve never heard you say thank you before. It’s surprising. I didn’t think you knew the word existed.”

Zoro growled. Leave it to Sanji to turn a simple expression of gratitude and make it into an insult. 

“The seas must be in havoc.” Sanji teased and peeked at the ocean from the small window. All was calm in matters of the ocean, but in matters of the fellow male standing not more than four feet away, all was definitely not calm.

“Hurry up and finish eating. There’s something important we have to do.” Sanji said, moving back and away from the window and coming closer to where Zoro stood. He opened a drawer and removed a fork and proceeded to stab one waffle and bring it up to him mouth and eat it.

“What are we doing?” Zoro was confused. What is it that is so important at eight in the morning?

“Physiotherapy.” Sanji said after he’d finished chewing.

“Oh.” Zoro took another waffle. They were astonishingly good. 

“Yeah so hurry up, I need to be back by eleven to begin lunch.” Sanji finished his waffle and went to the dining area to inform Usopp and Robin were on dishes duty.

* * *

 

“When did Chopper learn how to do physiotherapy?” Zoro asked.

Sanji’s brows furrowed. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“Will I have to stay there as he does it on you?” 

Sanji’s brows furrowed even deeper into each other. “What are you talking about?”

Now it was Zoro’s turn to be confused. “Didn’t you say you were going to physiotherapy?”

“I did.” Sanji halted his movements. “But Chopper’s not the one doing it.” 

“Robin knows how to do physiotherapy?” Zoro wasn’t all too surprised by that. That woman knew practically everything.

“No, you green moss. You’re the one doing it.” 

 


	5. Fifth Lesson: Quinoa's, Quinche and Pies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They get to cooking and therapy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that some of the medical points aren't very accurate but I didn't want to do too much research and have end up changing the whole story so forgive my lazy ass and here's the not so accurate chapter. 
> 
> To clear up any mistakes or inaccuracy, I didn't do thorough planning or research on this story, its LITERALLY BEING MADE AS I GO, so if there's any inaccuracy, ignore it and think of the story like this: Sanji's leg is broken. He had metal inside of it holding the bone in place. He needs crutches and additional help in cooking and moving. Zoro is the additional help. The therapy was originally set to be after the cast but i changed it and now its when he is healing.

"What are you talking about? Why am I the one taking care of you and giving you therapy as well?" Zoro complained and stopped walking which automatically cause the blonde to stop and look back at him.

"I don't know, marimo. Ask Nami-san, or Chopper, or Robin-chwan since they seem to know everything." The last phrase was heavily littered with a kind of bitterness Zoro had never heard of before. What was more surprising than Sanji being uncharacteristically bitter was how his bittereness had not been discriminatory and had been directed at both male and female members of the crew. Specifically to the two women who continuously captured Sanji's heart and made him act and think like a fool.

"You're very much welcome to try but I doubt it'll help much," Sanji added and continued walking, leaving Zoro to stare at his hobbling behind. "Once Chopper and Nami set their mind on something, it's damn near impossible to make either one forget, or change it."

Zoro stood there, his eyes focused on the spot Sanji had previously been standing in. He eventually followed the blonde and seeing the man's struggle, he offered to help but the blonde stubbornly refused and continued moving by himself. "Why does Chopper want me to be the one doing your therapy? I'm not good at therapy."

"I don't know, idiot-swordsman." Sanji sighed tired and stopped again, turning his head, he gave Zoro a look and continued, "I don't know anything, Zoro. I don't know why you're being left in charge of me, well I do know why but, I don't know why they're trusting a brute like you to take care of me, but they have and now we have to cooperate. It's that simple."

Zoro wanted desperately to grumble and complain about the unfairness of the situation but that was what a child would do, something a lesser man would do, and Zoro was not a child and he preferred to describe himself as a better man. It was clear to anyone with eyes that Sanji was suffering the most out of this agreement. He not only had to deal with his one effective defensive mechanism being out of commission; there was also how his life's purpose, no, the one thing that gave him peace and tranquillity being temporarily halted and added on that was having to spend time usually spent thinking of recipes or enjoying the simple ease of being in his element with his greatest rival and Zoro was acting like a stupid brat with all his complaints and insensitivity.

The harsh truth dawned on the swordsman with startling clarity and he felt ashamed. His actions weren't the actions of a better man, let alone of a proud swordsman or even a nakama. They were pathetic and disgracefull. Zoro bowed his head in shame and followed behind the struggling blonde, and he vowed to be less of an insensitive as shoe and more of a nakama, someone who Sanji could rely on.

"So, where do you want to do the physiotherapy? In the men's room? Or in Chopper 's infirmary?" Sanji broke the silence that briefly enveloped them. He was slightly weirded out on his sudden mood swings but he blamed it on the medicine and lack of sleep rather than actual bitterness he occasionally felt simmering underneath his skin.

"Huh?" Zoro stupidly asked, lifting his head and staring at the blonde in confusion.

Sanji rolled his eyes. 'Leave it to him to be an uncaring dick.'

"I said, where do you want to do it in the men's room or in Chopper 's infirmary?"

For a moment there, when Zoro 's mind was blank and trying to process Sanji's question, he translated Sanji's question in a completely different manner. It took him several long seconds of gaping at the blonde, eyes wide and startled beyond belief before his mind broke down Sanji's question and properly processed it.

"Uh... won't the deck be better? There's fresh air and you'll relax better out in the open than in a room."

Sanji thought it over and after a pregnant silence he agreed and they both went down the stairs to the grassy deck.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"How does this work then? Do I sit and you massage my leg or?" Sanji asked from his spot on the ground. The cook had been stubborn and adamant on descending the stairs by himself but after he accidentally placed the crutch down wrongly and neatly broke his neck in addition to his neck, Zoro had quickly moved to his side and taken one crutch in his left hand and hauled the blonde's arm over his shoulder and helped Sanji down the remaining steps. He'd considering helping the man till they reached the place Zoro had chosen for Sanji's post-surgery therapy, but he knew Sanji would take it as he was belittling his strength and indirectly calling him weak.

"Sort of. It's more complicated than that but we'll start out slow." Zoro said and also took a seat on the grass, the lush greenery surprisingly soft underneath his fingers. "You're just from surgery so there's not much we can do but we can start with a simple muscle assemsent to determine how much you can do right now."

Sanji was grudgingly impressed and heavily surprised but he made an effort to not let it show, the last thing he wanted was a smug professional Zoro on his hands. His grudging impress stemmed from how professional and proper and smart Zoro sounded once he began doing the muscle assessment, but his surprise skyrocketed when he felt the man's fingers on his legs, surprisingly gentle for the amount of strength Sanji knew lied beneath that dark skin.

"Huh? What was that?" Sanji was too slow to respond to Zoro 's question due to his confusing feelings from feeling Zoro 's fingers on his skin through the cast, gently pressing and prodding his leg. It felt uncomfortably good.

"I said is it okay? There's no pain?" Zoro asked and gently worked the skin covering Sanji's toes.

'I wish there was pain, you skilled bastard, that way I could knock you teeth in instead of wanting you to never stop.' Sanji mentally cursed Zoro repeatedly.

"No. It's fine." He said instead.

"Good." Relief was clear on Zoro ' s dark features. He massaged the muscle on Sanji's calf and Sanji fought back an extremely embarrassing sound. "I can't tell how your muscles are doing quite well because of the cast, but I think the (-insert leg muscles here) hasn't gotten stiff yet, but in a few weeks we'll have to check how stiff the muscles became."

Sanji didn't understand what Zoro had just said but nodded as if he did. The dark skinned male removed his hands from Sanji's leg and Sanji fought back the urge to protest against the act. He held himself back and watched as Zoro moved away from his foot and gave Sanji some well-deserved space.

Sanji faltered in between giving appreciation to the dark-skinned swordsman. “Uh...Thanks.. I know you have no reason to help me with the therapy and cooking but you’re doing it anyway, and I guess, thanks for that.”

Zoro’s face could only be described as the epitome of bewilderment. “Are you feeling okay? You don’t have a fever or something?”

Sanji saw Zoro come closer with his hand outstretched, palm facing the blonde, a clear intention to feel Sanji’s forehead for any warmth. Sanji leaned back and kicked the hand away with his good leg. “I’ll beat you up, marimo.” Sanji threatened but there wasn’t any real heat behind the words. “I’m just showing my appreciation, is that so unbelievable?”

Zoro nodded. “Yeah,” Sanji’s leg rose and was about to make contact with Zoro again but paused mid-air when Zoro continued speaking, “Its absolutely unbelievable, but you don’t have to thank me. Its what any of us would do for each other, because we’re nakama, and nakama don’t leave each other.”

Sanji gave a sharp nod and let his head hang. He looked at his thighs as a diversion to not look at Zoro and let the man see the distress he felt and was probably clear on his face. Sanji was used to calling Zoro his nakama, even if he almost never said it to the man himself, he knew Zoro was his nakama just as much as Usopp or Brook were. But hearing Zoro call their relationship ‘nakama only’ made something in his chest sting and Sanji didn’t like the feeling or implication brought by it.

“What were you planning to make for lunch?” Zoro abruptly asked. He leaned back, using his heels as support, and lied down on the grass, eyes facing upwards at the clear, blue sky.

“Hmm...I’m not sure. Probably something with meat for Luffy and a light salad for Nami-sand and Robin-chwan.”

Zoro hummed and they descended into a, not really unpleasant silence or overly polite, just...it was comfortable and it was the first time either male had been comfortable, truly comfortable and not in a crisis where they can rely on each other. They both found it incredibly pleasing.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Luffy burst through the galley-la door and before his loud voice could bounce off the kitchens’ walls, Zoro passed a plate in his direction.

“Huh?” Luffy stopped mid-shout and looked down at the plate.

“It’s your pre lunch.” Sanji said, not looking up from the cutting board as his finely sharpened knife diced a number of vegetables. He got a tin and poured a tablespoon of olive oil inside and then collected the vegetables, and poured them into the tin before adding salt and shaking them.

“Ah, really?” Luffy wasted no time and quickly dug into the large slice of pie. He groaned appreciatively and spoke through a mouth filed with meat pie. “This is so good, Sanji! Thank you!”

Sanji let out a laugh through his nostrils and continued preparing the quinoa. He had been hit with the idea of making three different kind of lunch for the crew; a quinoa for Franky, Usopp and Brook, a risotto for Nami-san, Chopper and Robin and a large meat quince for Luffy and Zoro. That meant if he wanted all the foods to be ready on time, he’d have to start cooking a few hours before lunch. He’d began by making Luffy a meat pie first since the young elastic male was prone to show up not more than three hours after he’d eaten and begin bothering Sanji with yells of ‘meat!’ that steadily increased in volume and intensity.

Sanji took another pan and kept the finely chopped onions inside before going over to the cooker and leaving the onions to saute. He went back to grab the garlic and dump it into the other heated pan while Zoro made a disgusted face at Luffy’s disgusting eating habits.

“Don’t talk with your mouth open, Luffy! Its disgusting!” Zoro finally understood why the blonde was such a tight-ass about eating properly and chewing with your mouth closed and not talking with food in your mouth, because it was bloody disgusting to look at. Zoro vowed to reform his eating habits and keep a close watch on his eating manners.

“Eh?” Luffy dragged out the ‘e’ and took another bite of the pie. “But you do the same thing Zoro!”

“I know! But stop! Its seriously disgusting!” Zoro argued back. He and Luffy consequently descended into an argument and in between their playful banter, none of them noticed Sanji quietly chuckling to himself.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Luffy cheered. “Lunch! Does it have a lot of meat?” He asked Zoro as he set the plate down in the middle of table together with the delicious smelling quinoa.

“I don’t know. The cook refused to say.” Zoro turned and went back for the last dish and glasses.

“Eeeh? Stingy!” Luffy pouted and fidgeted in his seat as he waited for his crew to be seated. He, Usopp and Brook were the only ones who were seated and Luffy started talking with them in a futile attempt to hold himself back from devouring the delicious pie-look alike not more than a few inches away.

Gradually, the StrawHats filed into the kitchen and took their seats in the dining room. They all waited for Zoro and Sanji to sit down before eating. The traditional disorder and lawlessness associated with the StrawHats eating time began and the kitchen/dining room was soon filled with shouts from Luffy and Usopp, weird mecha sounds from Franky, exuberant laughter and occasional threats from Nami.

Other people might have been and will most likely be discouraged by their spirited and unsightly ways, but Sanji would never tire of such an atmosphere. At that moment in time, surrounded by the only people he considered his family, Sanji felt incredibly at home.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The last meal of the day was postponed (except for Luffy, Sanji made him a protein filled snack) as the crew was filled from the fulfilling breakfast and lunch, thus leaving Sanji with a free evening that he had no clue what to do with.

Zoro had left him after lunch and had gone to work out. That had been almost five and a half hours ago. Sanji, in the middle of considering his potential evening activity, had been left in the kitchen tending to his precious tools but he soon became bored and put the utensil away.

Sanji’s boredom reached its climax and he decided to go sleep before he decided to prepare tomorrow’s breakfast. It wouldn’t be the first time. He grabbed his crutches and placing his hands on the handles, he steadily staggered out of the kitchen and went to the stairs.

The steps was a mild challenge for Sanji to conquer but when he did, he felt ridiculously pleased. He continued walking, the crutches making his usual walk a bit more awkward, and on his way, his mind abruptly shifted to Zoro and he turned in search of the male.

Sanji knew the male enjoyed practicing out in the open with the sea breeze blasting against his skin and cooling off his sweaty skin. His gaze landed on the aforementioned male swinging one of his swords, Sanji couldn’t make it out clearly due to the darkness, and his muscles flexed and tensed attractively.

Sanji was transfixed by the sight and stood there, watching as Zoro moved swiftly, dodging an imaginary attack, he spun in a half circle and came up behind his attacker and stabbed the imaginary attacker in the chest. He repeated the move a few more times, each time with a new piece inserted and through all versions Sanji watched in somewhat awe and amazement.

It wasn’t the first time Sanji had seen Zoro training, or seen his muscled move fluidly underneath his skin, but there was something mesmerizing about watching the large male practice in the starlight, shirt long forgotten and gaze concentrated on an unseen enemy.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Zoro wiped the sweat from his head with his forearm and straightened his posture. He shook out the tension from his neck and arms and walked to where his swords had been carefully placed. He returned Wado Ichimonji back to her scabbard and stood up. He went over to his shirt and used the cloth to wipe the dripping sweat from his forehead and tossed the sweaty cloth over his shoulder.

He went back to his swords and took them in his arms, cradling them close to his body, Zoro turned and was startled to see Sanji standing there, watching him with a peculiar look on his face.

“Fuck! Cook! Are you trying to kill me?” Zoro’s voice shook the blonde out of his stupor and he blinked dazedly for a few seconds before looking at Zoro again.

“Huh? No! How would I have killed you when I’m all the way over here?” Sanji retorted. He hoped Zoro wouldn’t call him out on his creepy staring.

“I mean, theoretically!”

Sanji let out a weird ‘ho ho ho’ laugh that was entirely condescending. “That’s a big word, marimo. Your head doesn’t hurt from thinking of it?“

Zoro growled and threw the first thing his hands landed on at the blonde. It happened to be Zoro’s extraordinary sweaty, stinky shirt. Zoro’s aim was impeccable and the cloth hit Sanji directly in the face. It fell to the ground with a small thump and revealed Sanji’s horrified face.

Sanj had had the misfortune of leaving his mouth open and the shirt, hitting him squarely in the face, had landed in his open mouth, giving him a clear taste of how sweaty the cloth really was.

Sanji spat out and fiercely rubbed his mouth his with shirt.

“Gross!” Sanji spat out again. “When was the last time you washed that shirt?” Sanji glared at the offending piece of cloth and at the owner as well.

Zoro snorted and thought about it.

“You have to think about it!?” Sanji screeched, the thought of days old shirt inside his treasured mouth nearly made him faint.

“It wasn’t that long ago. Maybe last week?” Zoro finally said and let out a bark of laughter at the horror and disgust on Sanji’s face. “Calm down, cook. You won’t die from a dirty shirt hitting you in the face.”

Zoro came closer and bent down to pick up the shirt. He stood up and slung it over his shoulder. Sanji’s nose was wrinkled in disgust and Zoro let out another chuckle.

“Where were you going?” Zoro changed the topic quickly before Sanji delved into a lengthy scolding on proper hygiene. It wouldn’t be the first time Zoro had heard it.

“To sleep.” Sanji answered and momentarily forget about Zoro’s thotough lack of hygiene. “I’m tired and tomorrow’s another long day. I need to sleep quickly. You should to. We have a long day tomorrow.”

Zoro nodded and fell in step with Sanji, timing his steps to Sanji’s awkward maneuvering with the crutch. “I will.”

“There’s no way you’re sleeping in the same room as me when you stink like that. Go take a shower.”

Zoro rolled his eyes and stopped walking. They’d reached to the men’s room and Sanji released on crutch and opened the door. “I was going to do that without you telling me, ero-cook.” Zoro turned and went in the direction he assumed was the bathroom. Sanji didn’t bother to correct him.

“Shut up, marimo.” Sanji said as he closed the door in Zoro’s face. He hobbled over to his trunk and changed for bed before climbing into his bunk and falling asleep almost instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to all y'all who still reading this and made it up to 1200 hits, thanks a bunch!


	6. Chapter 6: Attack on Salad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5K Words! And beta-d!

Zoro enjoyed being on watch.

There was something comforting and relaxing about being left alone in the crow’s nest, with nothing surrounding his field of vision other than the gorgeous blue hue of the ocean. 

He didn’t mind whether it was day, or if it was night, the peace brought upon by simply closing his eyes, and letting the slow, soft waves, gently caressing Sunny and rocking her back and forth like a mother would do to her baby in the cradle, was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. 

In addition to the peace, the crow’s nest provided his mind and body with an extraordinary amount of freedom. 

Doing his meditation, exercising, training or even just taking a nap, brought the greatest sense of satisfaction to Zoro, and he soon found he couldn’t resist going up there. It had become, in a sense, his second room.

However enjoyable those moments were, the Straw Hat crew had an uncanny ability to draw attention wherever they went, and naturally, attention is soon followed by trouble, and that night was one of those unpleasant moments, when his peace was disturbed rudely by the fleet surrounding them, once he woke up from a short nap and took a look outside the window. 

“Shit...” Zoro cursed out loud and ran a hand through his hair, tiredly stopping a yawn with the back of his hand. 

Zoro came closer to the window and carefully peeked at the ships encircling them. It was a rather daunting sight. Marines, a fleet far larger and wider than any of the ones that had attacked them before surrounded them, shamelessly covering every inch in their formation and leaving no cracks or gaps for the pirate crew to exploit. 

“Fuck...” Zoro cussed again, and casually went to the microphone and told the crew of their current situation. He had to repeat it twice just in case any one of them had failed to hear his voice. 

“Oi, guys.” He began, “The marines are here and they look like they might have brought the whole Navy force with them.” 

He gave a further assessment of their situation, and watched tiredly as his fellow members slowly filed out, hands rubbing away the faint glimmers of sleep still stuck heavily onto their eye-lids. 

It wasn’t long till they all stood there, but two of his nakama -Luffy and Brook- were somehow managing to stay upright whilst a snot bubble, as large as Zoro’s fist jutted obscenely from their right nostril. 

* * *

 

Nami shook her head and repeatedly wiped off the sleep from her eyes, and took note of the situation, and promptly made sure her sleeping crew-mates were awake and they were also to take note of their current situation. 

“Wake up, you fools!” Nami yelled over her shoulder, already running towards the helm, eyes frantically but carefully looking back and forth at the armada encompassing them, trying to find a suitable method of escape with little to no injury done to her members or Sunny.

“We’re under attack!” 

Zoro descended down the ladder and stepped down onto the deck, hand casually resting over the hilt of his swords resting by his right hip. He went on to observe the men and women standing before him and was rather surprised at their sense of alertness.

Luffy and Brook had yet to wake up, the snot still visible on their nostrils.

Usopp, Chopper and Franky had all been startled awake by Nami’s sudden yell, and after understanding the kind of crisis they were up against, the trio ran off to follow Nami’s orders and try to stop the Marines from blowing Sunny Go to pieces.

Robin wasn’t too far behind the trio, which left Sanji, who was trying and failing horribly to not glare hatefully at his leg, but the anger, disgust and pain on his face was too hard to conceal. 

* * *

 

“Oi cook,” Zoro went up to the blonde and stopped a few feet in front of him, hand still casually resting upon his katanas while the other hanged limply at his side. 

“What?” Sanji sneered hatefully, and the spite and anger in his voice was enough to betray his true emotions. 

“There’s not much you can do here.” Zoro said calmly. “Its for the best if you go into the galley, rather than stay out here.” 

Sanji’s face clouded over, and his posture became stiff and tense. “What did you say, you shitty swordsman?” 

“You heard me, ero-cook.” Zoro turned away, intending to go to assist his nakama and get some late-night exercise and training in. “It’s too dangerous for you to be here. Go to the galley instead.” 

If it wasn’t for years of hard, intense training, daily meditation, heightened senses and razor sharp instincts, Zoro would have fallen victim to Sanji’s kick that was aimed and executed perfectly, with the sole intention of sending him to the grave. 

Panting heavily, Sanji drew back his foot and with incredible strength, he returned it to the ground without breaking his form, even if it was partly hindered by the crutch he used as a support structure. 

“Say that again, you bastard.” Sanji’s visible eye was glowing ferociously with anger and he seemed to be visibly restraining himself from knocking the swordsman into the ground. “I said, say it again, you shitty bast-!” 

Sanji was cut off by a cannon flying through the air from an unknown Marine ship and ricocheting through the air, and landing into the ocean, a mere inches away from Sunny and barely missing to cause serious damage to the lion ship. The attack caused the previously calm waters to lash out and rock Sunny harshly, which resulted in most of the ship’s occupants to lose their balance and either fall to the ground or onto the first thing their hands latched onto. 

“They’ve begun firing!” Nami yelled from the helm, her hands tightly gripping the dark-brown wood handles for balance. “Usopp, Franky,” She called, “Get down to the dock and deal with the ships to the right.” 

Nami turned the wheel harshly to the right and narrowly avoided a cannon ball from blasting into the hull. “Zoro, Robin,” She had to yell to be heard over the noise of multiple cannons being fired from their ship and from the several ships around them.  

“Hoist the sails. Don’t tie them loosely, make sure they’re tied as tight as you can manage. It shouldn’t be able to untie from strong winds.” 

She turned her body towards Chopper, but kept her eyes focused on the war before her. “Chopper, go and make sure Luffy and Brook are awake, and tell them to handle the marines on our left.” 

“Got it.” Chopper said, and he, Robin and Zoro spread out to fulfill the navigator’s demands. 

“And me, Nami-san? What should I do?” Sanji asked, hobbling over to the main mast and yelling over the loud smashes of ships knocking into each other and wood splintering from the cannons fired from Sunny. 

“Sanji-kun,” Nami glanced over to the blonde for a second and returned her gaze to the front, “I can’t have you in the line of battle.” 

“You’re injured,” Nami wasn’t looking at him but Sanji knew if she was, the navigator would have glanced down at his wrapped leg, “I can’t risk you getting hurt by a stray bullet, or something worse.” 

Nami looked away for the second time and sent the blonde a pleading look, begging him silently to understand and not to take it personally and get hurt or offended, but it was too late. The damage had already been inflicted. 

It was one thing to hear it from a directional - challenged marimo, but it was a completely different thing to hear it from his precious Nami-san. He couldn’t believe he’d become such a burden that not one, but two, no- three, if you included Chopper- of his nakama thought he was such a burden that his best bet was to stay out of sight, and far from harm. 

“You understand what I’m saying, Sanji-kun?” Nami asked before yelling out to Zoro to join Luffy and Brook and deal with the Marines flocking over to the right side, and leave that side to Robin. Franky and Usopp had done an excellent job of taking care of the Marines to the left, and had managed to procure a path for them to pass. 

A part of Sanji did, but his anger, irritation and humiliation resounded bitterly within him and formed a disturbing sensation settle in his gut. He pushed past it and nodded, and gave the orange-haired woman a smile but it felt fake and forced. 

“Of course, Nami-san, its not your fault.” The orange-haired woman was preoccupied with handling the battle in front of her, a battle Sanji should have been fighting, and didn’t see the expression on Sanji’s face.

“I’ll just go to the galley, yeah?” Sanji, for the first time in a long time, forgot his manners and din’t wait for Nami to reply. 

He simply hobbled off and acted like he couldn’t hear Nami’s voice, even though the woman was yelling at an incredible volume, high enough to be heard through the sounds of battle. 

Sanji entered the galley and locked the door behind him, somewhat thankful for the Marines’ abrupt attack as it occupied his nakama’s time and left him with some time to himself. 

Sanji hobbled over to the counter and removed the crutch from underneath his arm and leaned his weight on the counter. He bowed his head and a curtain of fine, blonde hair fell over his face and shadowed his face, hiding his expression from the world. 

“Fuck!” Sanji slammed his fist down onto the marble counter repeatedly and each slam was punctuated with a cuss that grew lower in volume but thicker with emotion. 

Zoro watched the blonde hobble off the deck and head off towards the galley, not missing the defeated look on the cook’s face.

 _‘Nami must have said the same thing as I did,’_ Zoro thought as he sliced through a cannon ball and jumped on one half and using the cannon’s momentum to throw his body into a half-spin and turn it into a flip that allowed his swords to freely cut through the other three cannons aimed at Sunny’s main mast. 

He used those six halves as a stepping stone and went careening onto one marine ship. Zoro then proceeded to create an attack so large, it not only tore through the ship he stood on but also destroyed the next three to his right, coincidentally meeting with another destroyed ship, courtesy of his captain. 

_‘I don’t get why he’s so mad.’_

Zoro called out to Luffy and waited for his captain’s rubber arm to stretch out over to where he was. He climbed onto the elastic arm and positioned himself properly, lowering his stance till he was almost kneeling on the younger man’s arm, and drawing out his last sword, Zoro kept it in his mouth and his teeth fell perfectly in place with the dent marks created from previous use. 

Zoro pictured the attack and gently stabbed Luffy with the tip of Shuusui to alert the male that he was ready and he could draw back his arm, which gave Zoro the momentum he needed to slice through all the ships in one swift move. 

“Good!” Nami exclaimed, and used the opportunity presented by Zoro’s overzealous attack to activate Coup de Burst and get them away from the carcass of marine ships and bodies, barely having enough time to yell out a warning when Sunny took off into the air. 

* * *

 

“Whoo!” Usopp yelled excitedly, his hands up in the air and aimlessly swinging around in joy while his lower half danced in a way that was somewhat creepy to look at. “We did it!” 

“Yeah!” Chopper said with just as much enthusiasm. The teenager offered a high five to the long-nosed man and was rewarded joyfully by Usopp smacking their hands/hooves together and abruptly lifting the reindeer up in an exuberant display of joy. 

“What you did back there was so cool, Usopp!” Chopper praised, unknowingly feeding the long-nosed man’s ego and figuratively making his nose grow longer from the lies he spouted in attempts to keep the praise flowing. 

“Hmph...” Usopp flicked his nose, confident, and looked towards the horizon, secretly assuming his ‘cool pose’ that had been practiced for several hours in the mirror. 

“Thank you, Chopper-kun. It was no easy task. It took ten years of intense training with Sogeking to get to my level.“ 

“Really!? Sogeking!?” Chopper’s eyes were shining brightly, already deceived by Usopp’s obvious lie. 

“No, Chopper.” Nami interrupted, killing Usopp’s lying vibe and Chopper’s obliviousness. She shook her head at the naivety of Chopper and Usopp’s shamelessness. “He’s lying. He’s just a good shot. He’s always been a good shot, but he got better after two years.”

  
Usopp was quick to defend his honor and Sogeking’s pride, but a glare from the navigator made him hold back his tongue and change the conversation, instead of his original plan which was to jump on Chopper’s naivety and exploit it for his own fame and praise. 

The ruckus caused by Usopp’s and Chopper’s yelling caught Luffy’s attention and brought him over, which eventually led to Brook’s arrival and soon, one of their games begun and Nami pulled away before she got a headache or tried to strangle one of her nakama. 

* * *

 

She walked away from the children and went in the direction of the galley, only to be stopped by Zoro. 

“I’ll go.” Zoro said, staring Nami down and daring her to challenge him.   
Being one to never back down from a challenge, Nami took the green-haired man up and challenged his statement. 

“Why? Its not like you to want to talk to him.” 

“Because,” was all Zoro said and Nami was having none of that. She pressured and pestered him till he caved in and told her why he wanted to go into the galley and talk to the cook. 

“I said some... things back when the Marines were attacking..” Zoro looked nervous...no - embarrassed when he was speaking and Nami could swear the swordsman was fighting the urge to fidget. 

Nami’s interest was definitely piqued. Zoro was acting embarrassed, and he had said ‘some...things’ before she talked to Sanji. This was definitely something worth of her time. 

“What sort of things?” She crossed her hands underneath her bountiful chest and unintentionally pushed up her breasts higher. Zoro didn’t even bother looking and answered Nami’s question.

“That he wasn’t going to help by being on deck, and that he should go and stay in the galley instead.” 

Nami was horrified, and angry -no, positively livid. She took out her anger on the swordsman by beating him on any surface her hands landed on. She beat him till he had several large, pink throbbing lumps on his body, and for extra effect, she added on another hit. 

“You idiot! You absolute idiot!” Nami held herself back from hitting him again and settled for angry yelling. “Why would you say that!? You idiot!” 

Zoro shielded himself from the onslaught of Nami’s hits and waited till the she-devil had stopped before dropping his arms and addressing the woman angrily.   
“What the hell are you doing, you witch?” 

“I should be asking you that, you simpleton!” Nami argued back, “Why would you say that to Sanji-kun?” 

“What?” Zoro’s anger drained out of him and left him feeling exhausted, guilty and confused. “What’s so wrong with speaking the truth?” 

Nami resisted the urge to slap herself on the forehead. “Because, Zoro! There are some things that might be true but that doesn’t mean you have to say them out loud.” 

Zoro was still confused. “And telling the cook the truth was an issue because?” 

“He’s still fragile, Zoro!” Nami scolded but lowered her voice incase of certain people listening in. “Not physically, but mentally and emotionally. He’s just from being told he can’t walk or go anywhere without additional assistance. You can’t just say cruel things like those carelessly.” 

“How would you feel after Mihawk sliced you in half,” Nami glanced at the man’s bare chest. “If you were told you’d be of no help in fighting off a couple of bandits on the side of the road?” 

Zoro would have been pissed beyond comprehension. He would have stormed off to the bandits and dealt with each one appropriately until not a single thief remained. That was when it finally hit Zoro, and he begun understanding why Sanji had gone back to the galley, fuming with anger. 

“I see it now.” Zoro nodded and Nami released a sigh of relief, unsure whether the man will he be able to comprehend such a euphemism, but glad that he had enough smarts to figure out how harsh those things he’d said had been.

“Good, now,” She pushed the larger man towards the galley, “get in there and properly apologize to Sanji-kun.” 

Zoro turned to complain and found the minx had already disappeared and left him alone on the pathway. He shook his head and muttered to himself before opening the door to the galley and entering inside. 

“What is it?” Sanji asked, not looking up from his bowl filled with different kinds of ingredients judging from the spicy yet sweet aroma in the air. “Lunch is not done yet.” 

“I didn’t come here for food, cook.” Zoro went and took a seat on the bar stool and looked at the cook’s back, which had tensed up and had become stiff at hearing his voice. 

Sanji took a while before he returned to mixing the food in the bowl, his back still facing the swordsman. “What did you come for then? If its booze, you can forget about having a drop of any till we get to the next island.” 

“That’s not why I’m here, cook. “ Zoro said, “I want to talk.” 

Sanji paused and snorted lightly. “I didn’t know marino’s were capable of talking.” 

“Is this a newly discovered species?” 

Zoro growled lowly and fought back several violent urges. “Stop with the jokes, cook. I’m being serious here.” 

“So am I.” Sanji whirled around to face the swordsman and Zoro was taken aback by the cook’s messy appearance. Granted, they hadn’t had much time to take a shower and be properly dressed by the time the marines began attacking, but Sanji looked worse for wear. 

His sleeping shirt had the first three buttons undone and was shamelessly exposing the man’s smooth, pale chest. The blonde hadn’t even bothered with his hair, and had left it uncombed and the normally shiny golden locks, laid flat and dead on Sanji’s head. But the one thing that stood out more than the lack of proper dressing even though it was almost lunchtime, or the unstyled hair, but the faintly red lining on the blonde’s eyes. 

Either Sanji had been cutting some onions recently, or he had very recently been crying. 

“Were you crying?” Zoro should have started out with something neutral and less blunt, but he preferred to do it quickly, just like ripping off a band-aid.

“Huh? What are you talking about, marimo?” Sanji turned away and went back to making lunch. “No one has been crying in this kitchen. It was just the onions. I was just from cutting them.”

He pointed at the bowl and Zoro sniffed heavily at the air, and he caught a faint smell of something incredibly bitter and the smell of onion. 

“What, you thought I was crying because you all told me to hide in the galley like a good boy?” His tone was light and playful, but Zoro knew the blonde meant anything but that. There was an undertone of strain in his voice.

“That’s what I want to talk to you about.” Zoro said. 

Sanji moved away from the bowl and limped once to the door of the fridge and unlocked it and took out the large stock of meat before slamming the door shut and limping back to the bowl and continuing. Sanji didn’t say anything else and Zoro took that as his cue to continue. 

“I said somethings that weren’t entirely truthful. They weren’t true at all.“ Zoro begun, “What I said was hurtful and untrue, and I want you to know that is not how the crew thinks of you. That’s not how I think of you, cook.” 

Sanji stayed silent for a while, but then he scoffed and turned to look at Zoro with a blank look in his eyes. 

“Why does it matter what you think of me? Do you honestly believe your opinion is that important? That it matters?” 

Zoro was taken aback for the second time that day. He hadn’t expected a reaction like this from the cook when he came inside the galley to apologize. He had expected some teasing, a bit of shock and possibly mockery but not this.

Sanji’s reaction had been completely unexpected, and came as a shock for Zoro, which silenced him during Sanji’s response. 

Sanji scoffed bitterly. “Its funny how you think your opinion on this matters, but when it comes to my own opinion, it doesn’t matter. What I say doesn’t matter, and is definitely not important enough to even be reconsidered.” 

“What are you talking about, cook? Your opinion matters, of course it does!” Zoro stood up from the stool and went around the counter. He stood mere feet away from Sanji, and carefully watched the male’s reactions. 

“If it mattered, shitty swordsman,” Sanji turned back to the food and let Zoro stare at his well-defined back. “You would have let me fight. You wouldn’t have stopped me.” 

“I couldn’t do that, cook! Why can’t you understand that?” Zoro was getting frustrated with the conversation. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and it felt like they were spinning around in circles.

  
“I can’t understand? I’m the one who can’t understand?” Sanji left the lunch alone and rounded on Zoro, eyes blazing and venom flying from his mouth. 

“ You’re the one who can’t understand anything!” 

“You held me back from fighting a perfectly good battle.” He limped closer till his nose and Zoro’s were just a hair breadths away. “It doesn’t matter if I’m injured or not, marimo. You stopped me from fighting a battle, and to top it all off you called me weak.” 

“I never did such a thi-” Zoro was cut off by Sanji’s ferocious growl. 

“YES, YOU DID! You called me weak, just because I got slightly injured, and told me to back down from a fight I knew I could play a part in.” 

“You’re not slightly injured, Sanji!” Zoro fought back and moved away from the blonde but maintained eye-contact.

“You have a cast on your leg, you need crutches to walk! You can’t use your left foot for the next two months! That is not called being slightly injured, you dumb cook!” 

“So what? Just because I need a little help to move now, you’re calling me weak,” Sanji retorted and Zoro felt like yanking his green locks straight out of his scalp. 

“That’s not it!” But before he could process what had happened, Zoro found himself in direct contact with Sanji’s right leg, which had been aimed for his side.

  
“Does that look weak to you?” Sanji asked, voice scarily lowered.

He unleashed another kick this time aimed for Zoro’s ribs and before it could make contact like the first kick had, Zoro stopped it and grabbed onto his right leg, which forced Sanji to shift his weight and push it all towards the captured leg, thus surprising Zoro and making him lower down into a half-squat to balance his and Sanji’s weight. 

Using the surprise to his advantage, Sanji pulled back his leg and did a roundhouse on the swordsman. The heel of his foot made contact with Zoro’s back and sent him flying across the bar and straight into the wall close to the door. 

“Tell me, Zoro, was that weak? Was it!?” Sanji limped over to where Zoro had fallen and lifted his leg, and spun around, and used the momentum to deliver another kick onto Zoro that sent him flying from one wall to the next.

  
“I should stay in the galley and cook, right? Because that’s all I’m good at now that my leg isn’t working properly, right?” Sanji spat out, rage and humiliation fuelling his hurtful words and making him unleash it all on the green-haired swordsman.

“But you’re wrong about that. I can’t even do that right, anymore.” 

“I need your help for the basic things, you shitty bastard.” Sanji said, a sneer on his lips as he bent down and said all those things into Zoro's ear. He scoffed bitterly and continued, “I can’t even go to the damned bathroom without help, you damned bastard.” 

“The last thing I need is you telling me what I can and can’t do.” Sanji finished his statement with another roundhouse kick that sent Zoro flying into the other wall and falling limply to the ground. 

* * *

 

Sanji’s emotions had flooded his entire system and had shadowed over basic facts during his and Zoro’s altercation, one of which was Zoro’s unusual compliance, but now that his head had cleared up, and his rage had faded away to something less toxic and volatile, Sanji picked up on the unusual behavior and called the swordsman out on it. 

“Oi, why aren’t you fighting back? Are you trying to let me win because I’m a cripple?” Sanji challenged with spite building up in the back of his throat and blending perfectly with his last question. 

Zoro didn’t respond, but slowly brought himself back onto his feet. Sanji waited for the man to say something, and when he showed no signs of doing so, Sanji spoke instead. 

“Oi, say something. You couldn’t have gone deaf from something as easy as those kicks.” 

Zoro didn’t fall for the bait, but did something else Sanji had never expected. He stood up tall with his back straight and chest high, and suddenly went down in a deep bow with his head almost touching his kneecaps. 

“I’m sorry.” Zoro apologized, “I didn’t mean to do that. It was a misunderstanding, and I apologize for that.” 

Sanji was astonished, bewildered, baffled beyond belief. In all the months, weeks and even years he’d been at sea with and known Zoro, he had never, ever, not even once, heard the man apologize. Especially after being tossed around the galley like a rag-doll. 

So, he stood there, baffled beyond words, as Zoro continued speaking, still in his deep bow, and said something that should have angered Sanji but only managed to promote his bafflement to dumbfound. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Sanji. I really am sorry.” Zoro said, nothing but sincerity in his voice. 

Sanji blinked several times, his brain trying its absolute hardest to comprehend what was happening before him, and watched, body and mind still heavily layered with shock. 

Zoro rose and looked at the blonde. He made eye-contact, and tried his best to convey his sincerity about the apology, and that it was truthful, and not some sort of sick joke. 

“W-what are you saying, marimo?” Sanji looked at the dents in his marvelous kitchen walls, and added, “Did you hit your head too much on the walls?” 

Zoro didn’t respond to the question, and said instead, “You’re my nakama, and I didn’t trust in you. I didn’t believe in you, and for that I am genuinely sorry, Sanji.”

  
The shock was slowly wearing off, and Sanji could now remember their fight, and how Zoro had said his name, his real birth name three times in one sitting, when he hadn’t ever heard the man call him that in all the months they’ve spent together. 

“Stop saying you’re sorry all the time,” Sanji limped off to take his crutches, and use them to support his weight, which was a real save for his right leg, which had been supporting his whole weight and was beginning to tire out. “It’s disturbing.” 

Zoro listened and stopped apologizing, but got a pensive look on his face. Sanji wanted to ask what he was thinking so hard about, but was interrupted by the galley door swinging open and Nami, Usopp and Franky entered inside.

 

* * *

 

 

“What the hell happened here?” Franky asked, bewildered and horrified at the sight of his smooth, perfect crafted walls reduced to mere indentations, which looked very much so like a person’s body. 

“We had the noise and came to check,” Usopp asked, dark-eyes flickering between Zoro and Sanji nervously. 

“Are you guys okay?” Nami asked both of them but looked directly at Zoro when she did, obviously hinting to something that only her and the swordsman knew about. 

“Yes, of course, Nami-san,” Sanji began, and got Nami’s and Usopp’s attention focused on him. “Everything’s fine.” He offered her a dazzling smile, but it looked and felt strained. 

“What kind of fight did you two have to do this to Sunny?” Franky asked, and went over to the latest dent, and gently touched the ship, gauging the damage and how long it would take to reply. 

Sanji laughed nervously and went back to the meal he’d been in the middle of preparing before Zoro walked in. “The marimo said something stupid and a fight kind of broke out.” Sanji shrugged, but didn’t look back at the trio. “Its nothing to worry about.” 

“Really?” Usopp asked and his voice held traces of doubt, but the look Sanji sent him had him forgetting about it, and instead he breathed out a sigh of relief. 

“That’s good then. I thought, for a good second there, that it was something serious.” He glanced at Zoro and at the mess in the galley, but didn’t say anything else.

Sanji shook his head, and washed his hands in the sink before going to mixing the ingredients bare-handed. 

* * *

 

Usopp laughed at Franky, crying silently in the corner, tiny yellow hand tracing over the broken parts of the galley, and told the cyborg to wait for him as he went down to the workshop to bring the supplies they’d need to repair the dents, not completely bought on Sanji’s story, but years surrounded by his crew had taught him to drop certain topics, regardless on the credibility of the backstory.

It wouldn’t be the first time either that Zoro had said something stupid, and a brawl had broken out between the two, Franky and Nami, however were not bought, and eyed the two suspiciously. 

Nami couldn’t stand it any longer, and went up to Zoro and took him out by the arm, leaving Sanji and Franky, and the latter eyed the walls and former suspiciously. 

He wanted to say something, anything to destroy the awkward silence clouding over them, but had nothing in his brain other than the odd information Robin had shared with him, which didn’t feel all to appropriate. 

* * *

 

“The galley’s a complete mess!” Nami scolded harshly, brows furrowed and mouth set in a straight, unforgiving line. “What the hell did you tell him?”. 

“I accepted that I said some horrible things, and then I tried to explain it to him and shit happened, and it led to the fight.” Zoro said casually, as if having body indentations caused by someone you considered family was normal.

Nami wanted to press further on the events leading to such a bad fight, but held back, there was a large chance Zoro would completely clam up and refuse to tell her anything, so she changed tactics, and dove in for her original question when she went in the galley.

“Did you properly apologize?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and assessed Zoro’s face for any signs of a lie.

“Yeah,” Zoro wiped away some blood from his mouth with his yukata sleeve, effectively staining the green yukata a darker shade of green. “Twice, actually.”

Nami was taken aback. She had only expected the swordsman to do it once, and even then with much reluctance and at the ‘high’ cost of his pride. “Twice?” She wildly shook her hands and dismissed her question. 

She nodded her head, orange locks bouncing up and down like ball behind her. “That’s good. At least Sanji knows you apologized. Or tried to.” She sent a suspicious look at Zoro, still not believing the man had apologized and twice, nonetheless.

But before Zoro could open his mouth and complain or refute her statement, Nami pushed at his muscular back in the direction of infirmary with pseudo caring words that were actually hidden threats. 

After making sure the swordsman wouldn’t get lost inside the infirmary, Nami turned on her heel and went back into the galley, meeting Usopp halfway and walking back with him.

* * *

 


	7. Chapter 7: Tickles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But I’d still prefer if you took it easy for the next three to four days,” Chopper glanced over his shoulder at Zoro. “That means no training, or excessive strain on your body, which includes, drinking.”
> 
> Zoro looked aghast at the news. “Chopper-!”
> 
> “No, I don’t want to hear it, Zoro.” Chopper had similar characteristics to the other members, one of which was his stubbornness. It couldn’t rival Luffy’s, but it was still formidable.
> 
> “No drinking, exercising or training.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was supposed to be more to this but I had to write it quickly for our marimo's bday which i unfortunately missed but here's the fluuufffy chapter...forgive me if things don't make sense or if there are aany spelling mistakes. it has yet to be proof-read since i love y'all so much i decided to give it to you raw

“You’re very lucky, Zoro.” Chopper said as he removed the stethoscope from his ears and moved away to put it back. “Its a miracle you don’t have any broken bones, or at least cracked ones.”

Zoro grunted and buttoned up his black shirt. He moved around, feeling if his body was truly up to par. Nothing felt broken or out of place, and he wasn’t dizzy  which was one of the symptoms of internal bleeding.

“But I’d still prefer if you took it easy for the next three to four days,” Chopper glanced over his shoulder at Zoro. “That means no training, or excessive strain on your body, which includes, drinking.”

Zoro looked aghast at the news. “Chopper-!”

“No, I don’t want to hear it, Zoro.” Chopper had similar characteristics to the other members, one of which was his stubbornness. It couldn’t rival Luffy’s, but it was still formidable.

“No drinking, exercising or training.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Zoro had rarely missed a day of training, or exercising and he didn’t want to start now simply on the fear he might still be injured, or he would spontaneously collapse with a 100kg dumbbell in his hands.

“Take a nap.” Chopper shut the case and kept it in his drawer. He turned to look at Zoro and crossed his arms, a defiant look on his face, as if daring Zoro to disobey him.

“You’re really good at doing that.”

Zoro would never, in a million, trillion gazillion years hurt Chopper, but at that moment, he played with the thought of tying him up and keeping him somewhere he wouldn’t be able to watch Zoro like a hawk.

 

* * *

 

“Three to four days.” Zoro muttered to himself as he walked out of the infirmary and headed towards the staircase. “What the hell am I supposed to do for three or four days?”

He took a right turn and found he had walked into the aquarium bar. His face scrunched up in confusion, and he walked back out and turned around and walked back. 

“I can’t train or exercise.” Zoro felt the beginning clutch of stress forming in his mind and tried relaxing his mind. “Not to mention drinking.”

He took a left this time, and found himself in the library with Nami sitting down at the chair, hunched over a map and her hair tied up in a loose ponytail. She was dressed in short shorts and a tank top with her favorite orange sandals. Nami turned when she felt a slight breeze blow into the room and rustle her papers, and found Zoro staring at her in confusion.

“What do you want, Zoro?” Nami’s eyebrow arched as she waited for the swordsman to reply.

“Nothing. I was just going to the men’s room.” Zoro said

“That’s on the first floor, Zoro. You’re on the third.”

Zoro cussed and began blaming Franky for creating such a misleading ship as he walked back out of the room and the door slowly followed behind him as he went to close it.

“Wait!” Nami said and watched as the door halted, mid-way open, and Zoro’s face peeked in.

“What?”

“You’ve just left the infirmary, right?” Nami kept her pencil down and turned to fully face the swordsman. She let her legs dangle on either side of the chair and gripped the head of it with both of her hands and using the upper part of her hand to rest her chin.

“Yeah,” Zoro nodded stiffly. It was odd for him and Nami to be engaging as frequently as they have. He kept expecting her to dive back into her witch persona and come after him with a Beli sign in her eyes, constantly reminding him of his ever-growing debt.

“And? What did Chopper say?” 

“I’m fine, but I can’t do any strenuous activities for the next three or four days.”

Nami hummed and Zoro moved to close the door and go back to his search, but Nami stopped him once more. 

“Are you going to talk to Sanji-kun?”

Zoro halted and his defense system immediately went up. “Why would I do that?”

Nami’s shoulders moved up and down in a shrug manner. “I don’t know. I thought you two would want to patch up after your fight.”

Zoro wondered if Nami was ever really watching when he and Sanji were within each other’s vicinity. 

“No. I was going to sleep.” This time when Zoro walked out of the room, Nami didn’t stop him and he closed the door and left the library. 

* * *

 

It took him a few more minutes -nearly an hour- before he found the stairs and went down to the men’s room for a nap. 

On his walk there, Zoro’s mind replayed Nami’s words, and though he knew the witch was right to an extent, he didn’t feel like he was up for meeting with the blonde cook.

He entered the room, and was relieved to find it devoid of his fellow roommates. Zoro needed some time alone, and the noise brought along with Luffy, Brook and Usopp was going to make his feelings of anxiety sky-rocket.

Zoro went to his bed and flopped onto it, not bothering to remove his clothes or shoes and promptly closing his eyes, and trying to fall asleep.

* * *

 

After the third attempt, Zoro gave up and stopped trying to clear his mind, and sat up. When odd, short bouts of restlessness hit him, Zoro would climb up the crow’s nest and work away the excessive energy, or he’d practice his swordsmanship, but when he stood up, about to head to the crow’s nest to do just that, he was crudely reminded of Chopper’s orders.

Zoro toyed around with the idea of ignoring Chopper’s orders and going to exercise anyway, then he remembered when he, Luffy and Sanji had disobeyed the doctor and gone about their usual activities and had been caught by aforementioned doctor.

It sufficed to say, they never tried to do it again.

Thus, it left Zoro with little to no options or source to expend the energy inside him. 

Zoro sighed and took a seat on the floor. He crossed his legs and arms, and began thinking of something to do that would eventually wear him out and make him sleepy. 

He opened his eyes when an idea hit him, one that was so obvious, he felt a bit stupid for not remembering it. 

* * *

 

Meditation.

Meditation was the best way to calm any restless energy, or unease, and was also the best way to assess his thoughts, all of which Zoro desperately needed to if he wanted to catch some shut-eye before lunch rolled around.

He uncrossed his hands and rolled out his shoulders, shaking out the kinks in his arms, neck and back. He did the same to his feet, before assuming the earlier position only with an added change of his eyes being closed.

Zoro took a deep breath in and held it for five seconds before exhaling it slowly from his mouth. He did it several times, till he felt his body relax and melt into the floor, and his mind clear out the unnecessary thoughts and become an empty space.

Before long, Zoro adopted his method of meditation, and found the restless energy previously bustling and boiling inside of him, slowly fizzle out and disappear.

* * *

 

The one draw back of sorts Zoro felt with doing meditation was how clear things would look, feel and be in his eyes. 

Yes, it was incredibly effective if done before a fight, but Zoro wasn’t going to any battle. The only semblance of a battle was the one with Sanji the day before, and Zoro refused to call their interaction a battle.

The unfortunate part with organizing his thoughts was when he stopped being prideful and began seeing the sense in some actions or words previously said or done around him, and Nami’s words were making sense to him.

He was the one at fault, and he had gone to apologize, only for that to end with their already strained relationship dancing on a thin line. It made sense for him to go and try to ‘patch their relationship’, if he were to use Nami’s words.

Zoro sighed again and uncrossed his feet and hands and waited a few seconds for the blood to flow through the appendages before sitting up and walking out of the bedroom with the galley in mind.

* * *

 

Zoro walked into the galley and found the cook sitting down on a bar-stool with a glass of wine resting on the table. This was the first time Zoro had ever seen Sanji sit down in the middle of the day since he got injured. He was oddly pleased by it.

Zoro watched as the blonde lifted his head up and looked at the door. His expression was originally blank, but his eyebrow rose when he saw Zoro standing by the open door.

“What do you want, marimo?” 

Zoro shut the door and walked into the kitchen further. He went to the table and sat across from Sanji, and rested his elbows and palms on the smooth marble counter. He looked at the cook, and cleared his face of any emotion.

Sanji sighed heavily when Zoro didn’t answer and returned his gaze to his drink. He set them there for a few moments before raising them up to look at Zoro’s face.

“I said, what do you want, marimo? Are you deaf now?” 

Despite his seemingly harsh words, Sanji held no spite in his voice. There wasn’t even the usual mocking tone specially reserved for situations involving him and Zoro. He was just...neutral, even a bit tired.

“There’s no booze,” Sanji said, “and food will be ready in the hour.”

“That’s not what I came here for.” Zoro said with a shake of his head.

Sanji’s expression changed into one of puzzlement. “Then what did you come here for?”

Zoro captured the blonde’s gaze and said, “I came to apologize.”

Zoro’s statement made Sanji’s eyebrows shoot for his hairline and his eyes to widen to comical proportions. “What?” Sanji thought he might have misheard, because what he just heard was impossible, more so coming from the green-haired swordsman sitting in front of him.

“Are you sure you’re not the one going deaf?” Zoro teased but Sanji didn’t take the bait and remained in a state of shock, “I said I came here to apologize. For what happened yesterday.”

Zoro did his best to portray an earnest look in his eyes and said, “I didn’t mean to say those things.” 

Zoro hesitated and took a second to gather the right words. “No...that’s not it. I’m not sorry for what I said, but I am sorry for how they came out. I didn’t mean to call you weak.”

“What I meant to say was that you shouldn’t put yourself in the front line right now. They -we are- strong enough.” Zoro said and constantly held the blonde’s gaze as he continued on to say, “We all became stronger after the two years and now either one of us can take on a fleet of marines with no problem. We all got stronger, and we can handle ourselves in a fight.”

“We’re nakama, ero-cook,” Zoro kept emphasis on being nakama so as to hopefully get the message through that mass of blonde hair and into the cook’s hard skull. “Our job is to protect one another, whether we’re hurt or not, we’re supposed to protect each other and that was what I was doing yesterday.”

“I am sorry for how it came out.” Zoro said and bowed his head. The effect was lessened since he was sitting, but Sanji was sure he’d fall out of his chair if Zoro had stood up and fully bowed to him. 

Sanji was stunned silent.

No, he had long since been stunned once Zoro had mentioned he was going to apologize. Now he had long crossed over to being astonished, and blinked several times and tried to get his brain to properly digest what had just transpired.

He watched dazedly as Zoro rose and began heading for the door, and there was nothing much he could do other than watch as the swordsman walked towards the door and opened it, and walked out of the galley.

Sanji was surprised by the apology, but the fact that that was the longest time either one of them had spoken to each other without any punches, kicks or sword attacks thrown. He had never known Zoro could be so...considerable.

Sanji had always held this image of Zoro in his mind where the larger male was a rude, obnoxious, alcoholic that didn’t care for anyone’s opinion and had no sense of direction, but the fact that Zoro even bothered to come back after their argument and apologize even though he was the one who got kicked around like a rag doll changed Sanji’s perspective on him.

 _‘There.’_ Zoro thought as he walked out and took a right, intending to go down to the deck for his well-deserved nap. _‘Its over. Now I can get some damn sleep.’_

Zoro went down the stairs and took a left and went towards his favorite spot, located at the back of the ship, near the helm where he could hear the waves gently knocking against the extended piece of wood which would help rock him to sleep.

He sat down, and removed his swords from his hop and laid them carefully down on the ground beside him, before crossing his arms over his chest and resting his head against the wood, and not too long later, Zoro felt the pull of sleep and he gave into it and allowed himself to be drugged under.

* * *

 

“What the fuck was that?” Sanji furrowed his brows and held his chin with one hand, slender digits gently scratching at the dark patch of hair slowly coming into place.

Sanji hadn’t moved since Zoro had walked in and unearthed his mental state. He had continued to sit on the stool, mind frantically racing, trying to figure out if the swordsman had accidentally ingested poisoned food, or booze that had been long past its expiry date, but he came up blank. 

To the best of his memory, only he had been in charge of their food and Sanji always had recollection of all the food in his storage and when they were to expire, even the alcohol. 

But if it wasn’t an outside source entering the swordsman body and changing his mindset, what else would be the explanation for Zoro, a man with an unrealistic amount of pride, come back to apologize to Sanji, someone who he not only doesn’t get along with, has no reason to apologize to after being kicked around like a rag doll?

It didn’t make sense to Sanji.

“Could he actually be sorry for saying those things?” Sanji asked, out-loud.

Sanji wasn’t blind to the thought of Zoro, actually feeling bad and coming back to apologize, but it didn’t make sense, no matter how many times he went over the conversation in his head. It wasn’t logical, or even sensible to go back and apologize to someone who deliberately hurt you multiple times and was considering doing serious damage. It just didn’t.

“But I’m the one who hit him.” Sanji said, he unconsciously moved his fingers from his beard to tap at his temple at a rhythmic pace. “Shouldn’t I be the one apologizing?”

Soon after his words had echoed through the empty galley, Sanji felt the unyielding pressure rest on his chest and head, weighing him down further into the stool.

It was guilt, he knew instantly. The guilt had finally come around and Sanji felt it increasing as the seconds went by and his mind replayed their fight the day before instead of the conversation, and no matter how he looked at it, Sanji knew he was the one in the wrong, not Zoro.

“Shit,” Sanji cursed and tried reaching for a cigarette only to remember he had left them under his pillow and going back for them seemed too much of a hassle.

He cursed again.

* * *

 

Zoro’s peaceful slumber was disrupted by the sound of muted footsteps heading his way. At first, he didn’t open his eyes and continued to sleep, thinking it was just Luffy, or Usopp trying to walk past him without accidentally waking him up, but when the footsteps ceased just in front of where his feet laid spread out, Zoro cracked his eyes open and stared at whomever was obviously wanting his attention through slit eye-lids.

Unbelievably, it was Sanji standing there with his crutches resting in the core of his armpits and his right leg raised off the ground while his left was dressed in a modified version of a slipper.

Zoro didn’t change his position and neither did he fully open his eyes. He continued sitting there with his arms crossed, and swords within reach, waiting for the blonde to say whatever he had came to say.

“Oi marimo. We need to do therapy. Wake up.” Sanji said and continued looking down at the swordsman. He tried to ignore the large clump in his throat and focus on his current mission, to make the swordsman wake up and begin therapy before Chopper came looking for the third time.

Zoro, however, made no effort to move and continued ‘sleeping.’

“Oi,” Sanji resorted to other...forceful methods to wake Zoro up, one of which was to repeatedly knock his head with the padded part of his crutch. “I know you can hear me. Wake up, we need to do therapy before Chopper comes looking for me again.”

Zoro slowly opened his eyes wider and looked up at Sanji. “I thought that was only going to be one once a week?”

“No, Chopper made me do it twice. He said it could help speed the healing process.”

Zoro grunted and slowly sat up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and slowly felt his alertness return. He gestured for Sanji to sit down beside him and to remove the modified sandal Franky made for him. 

Sanji complied an d cautiously sat down, making sure not to rest any weight on his foot, he reached over and removed the sandal and placed it beside his crutches, a few centimeters from Zoro’s swords.

Sanji braced himself for the odd sensation of Zoro’s hard, calloused hands rubbing against his skin. It had taken all his willpower not to instinctively kick Zoro’s jaw back in the first tim, but now, he was slightly better at holding back the urge, and silently waited for Zoro to finish kneading the knots out of his foot, calf and thigh.

* * *

 

Zoro never ceased to be surprised at the softness of Sanji’s underfoot. He had expected it to be tough and hard, nothing like the softness and smoothness it felt like in his palm. 

His fingers brushed against a seriously tight muscle in one of Sanji’s toes, and Sanji ended up releasing a pained sound.

“Something’s tight there.”  Sanji explained and Zoro didn’t reply, he instead focused his efforts on that certain part, and in doing so, he ended up having to touch and massage Sanji’s underfoot, which resulted in another sound coming from Sanji’s throat.

Sanji tried to fight the sound back but couldn’t resist the ball of laughter building up in his throat and it eventually escaped, soon followed by its brothers all of which were caused by Zoro’s insistent pressure on his ticklish underfoot.

Sanji laughed loudly and wriggled, like a worm or a dying fish, on the grassy deck. He was caught between wriggling closer to Zoro and having him massage that compressed muscle in his foot, or moving back and never returning out of embarrassment.

Zoro’s eyebrows had risen by the first snort of laughter, but by the fourth laugh, he had also began to smile and shifted his efforts and had intentionally began tickling the blonde male.

Sanji laughed even harder and tried tugging his foot back. It didn’t work and just caused Zoro’s hold to tighten and redouble his actions. 

Sanji turned and laid on his hip, and tried to use his hands to crawl away from the green-haired male, but instead, he ended up being dragged closer to Zoro and effectively severing any chance of escape.

“Stop....Stop...” Sanji panted through small bouts of laughter, “I can’t..stop...”

“What’s the magic word?” Zoro asked, in between increasing and decreasing his torture on the blonde cook. 

“I don’t know..” Sanji tried to regain his breath through the temporary relief provided by Zoro stopping to reply to Sanji’s breathless statement, which proved to be useless as it was all ripped from his lungs when Zoro suddenly attacked his foot and send him into another unfiltered laughter.

“Okay!!” Sanji exclaimed, holding his hands up in mock-surrender. He panted heavily and regained his breath to say, “I give up. You win.”

Zoro grinned evilly and released Sanji’s foot. “Good.”

Sanji brought his foot in and was surprised to find it was far relaxed than he had ever felt it. He wriggled his toes and was further surprised by the sudden flexibility found in the small, pale digits.

“The other foot.” Zoro said and pointed to the wrapped foot. Sanji moved closer and waited for the swordsman to spread his legs before moving closer and resting his left foot over Zoro’s and slowly move the right to Zoro’s lap.

Zoro repeated the same action on the leg, but at a gentler pace and with less strength so as to not irritate Sanji’s foot. He carefully massaged Sanji’s thigh and upper calf before going down to the foot and gently pulling and rotating the small digits. 

He moved on from there, and let Sanji take back both of his legs. The blonde scooted away from Zoro and instead of leaving Zoro with a nod, and hobbling back to the kitchen or to the bathroom like he had the previous time, Sanji remained seated and waited for Zoro to question his presence.

“What?” Zoro asked, brows slowly furrowing together and creating a wave of skin between each other. “Does it hurt somewhere?”

“No,” Sanji said with a shake of his head. “Its fine. I just need to talk to you.”

Now, it was Zoro’s turn to be surprised. Sanji, the very same Sanji he knew, coming from his precious kitchem to talk to him, Zoro, a loud, obnoxious Neanderthal as he had previously called him on different occasions? 

Something wasn’t right.

Zoro didn’t rush the blonde and waited patiently for him to begin speaking, and when he did, Zoro was hit by an irritating sense of deja vu.

“When you came into the galley before and apologized, it took me by surprise..” Sanji began and bravely looked up at Zoro, “not only because I didn’t know marimo’s were capable of apologizing but because you were the one doing it instead of me.”

“I was the one who knocked you around the galley, when you were just telling me the obvious truth. I was just too weak not to see it.”

Sanji’s attention was temporarily diverted by a large bird flying in the distance but he quickly turned back to Zoro and continued to say, “It was obvious. There was nothing I could do. I would just be a hindrance, but I still wanted to do something, no matter how little.”

“That was why I reacted so badly when you tried to explain it. You were saying what I was too afraid to accept with such ease, it pissed me off.”

“Yeah,” Zoro touched his ribs but there was no anger or desire for revenge in his eyes. “I know.”

Sanji looked away from the sight and searched the skies for the avian. He found, to his disappointment, it had long since flown away. “...I didn’t mean to do that..you know...I really didn’t.”

Zoro nodded and let his hand fall back to his lap and he closed the distance between his legs and let his thick calves press against each other. “I know.”

Sanji nodded as well, and though he didn’t know how to begin apologizing and a part of him wanted to stop right there and go far away from the swordsman, he forced his body to stay seated and get the words out. He had already gotten this far. It would only be cowardly to back out now.

“And I’m sorry...” Sanji forced his eyes to meet Zoro’s unflinching gaze and hold it, “I let my anger get the best of me and it resulted in your training and practice suffering. For that, I’m incredibly sorry.”

Sanji hoped Zoro would be able to feel the sincerity and honest guilt behind his apology. Sanji hadn’t realized it back in the galley, but the training and sword practice were the things Zoro did daily to help him achieve his dream, and Sanji, being the pompous idiot he tended to be, had gone and deprived him of it for a few days. 

The thought of being held back from cooking for a few days was enough to make an awful feeling settle in his stomach. He couldn’t even imagine not being able to make any sort of meal, snack or even drink for his crew. It just didn’t feel...proper. And now he had done the same for Zoro.

Zoro snorted, and before Sanji could rain hell down on the male for mocking his apology, Zoro spoke and said, “You idiot. You didn’t hold me back from training. Chopper did.”

“Yeah because of what I did!”

“Maybe so, but cook,” Zoro took his swords and stood up before returning them to his left hip. He stretched for a few moments and let a wide yawn rip throught his mouth before continuing, “You can’t honestly believe I stopped training just because of a few bruised bones. I’ve had far worse done to me and each time I have grown from it.”

He began walking away, but before he could get too far, he said over his shoulder,  “Besides, you really can’t think your attack was strong enough to make me stop training, did you, ero-cook?”

Sanji heard the mocking tone in the swordsman voice and whirled around to yell, “What was that, you bastard!?”

But Zoro had since left with a small -barely visible- tilt to his lips.


	8. Chapter 8: Stolen Goods (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Because if you do,” A dark, evil look passed over Nami’s features and transformed her delicate feminine look into something demonic and Nami-like. “-And you end up attracting the Navy’s attention,”
> 
> Nami made a slicing motion with her thumb and the base of her neck, obviously stating the death that would befall the culprits responsible for the trouble.
> 
> Luffy, Zoro and Sanji shivered simultaneously but the latter recovered first and showered Nami with thoughtless praise. “Ah, Nami-san! You’re still beautiful even when you’re being unreasonable.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just part 1, the second part will be uploaded early 2018.   
> I hope you enjoy this and have a blessed new year and a late Merry Christmas!!  
> I hope you will continue to support me by reading this story and commenting in the coming year!

“Nami!” Luffy yelled out, arm stretched out, blood dripping from his scalp and pouring into his eyes. 

He fought against the tight hold Franky had around his waist and tried stretching his hand out towards the lighting fast car speeding off with three Straw Hat members inside, tied up and unconscious.

“Let me go!” Luffy wriggled and tried squirming his way out but Franky only tightened his hold and held Luffy tight against his thick chest, effectively pining the young male and keeping his as still as he possibly could.

“Let me go, Franky! I can still catch up to them!” Luffy cried out and still tried escaping Franky. “They haven’t gone far, I can still save them!”

Franky rarely raised his voice in an intimidating or scolding manner but at that moment, he did and said to Luffy, “Calm the hell down, Luffy! If you go there and try to save them you’ll only end up putting them in more danger! Can’t you see that?”

He continued to say, “They have a gun pointed at their heads and bombs, freaking bombs, strapped onto their mid-section. If you try and attack them, you could end up triggering the bombs and kill them!”

Luffy drastically changed his attitude once he heard Franky’s words. He hadn’t thought of that at all and it was clear in his sudden silence and cooperative attitude.

“First of all, you need to calm down,” Franky said and warily released his hold on the young male, “We can’t go attacking them blindly without a plan, Luffy.”

“Franky’s right,” Robin said and turned towards the remaining six, a grim, serious look adorning her elegant features  “We need a full-proof plan or else Nami and the others will end up dead.”

“Don’t say that!” Luffy and Usopp said simultaneously, and Luffy glared at the ground, hat tipped over and obscuring his face, once Franky let his feet touch the earth once more. 

“They won’t die!” Luffy said, and none of them were sure on who he was trying to assure.

“Mmmh.” Usopp said, “Luffy’s right. We need to believe in them just like they are believing in us to come and help them.”

They all acknowledged Usopp’s words and gave a slight nod as a response before a short stiff silence descended upon the Straw Hats, casually broken by Zoro’s deep baritone voice.

“But how do we save them when we don’t even know where they’re been taken to?”

The Straw Hats all got a conflicted, thoughtful look on their face and tried to remember any clues that could direct them towards their captured members. After a few minutes, Usopp gasped and held out his hand and said, “I think, back when we were in town, there was a weird alley in between the shops but I couldn’t see what was inside it without looking suspicious, or shady,”

“Where?” Luffy was quick to practically climb onto the sniper and grab him by his slim shoulders, face closely pressed against Usopp’s. “Where did you see that?”

Usopp tried swatting Luffy off but only served to make the monkey characteristics worse. “I don’t remember! It was just in town, after we’d bought the supplies and stuff.”

Luffy, hearing that was disappointed and jumped off the dark-skinned male. But Usopp continued to add, “Besides, I can’t remember which one it was.”

Robin then turned to look at the long-nosed sniper. “What do you mean ‘which one’?”

“I mean,” Usopp looked at Robin, confusion and a hint of fear on his face, “There was more than one suspicious alley.”

* * *

 

_A few days ago._

 Nami removed the binoculars from her eyes and craned her neck to yell into the speaker conveniently bolted onto the wall, “Guys, I’m seeing an island!” She bookmarked the navigation book she was reading and held it close to her chest before taking the blanket, binoculars and empty glass and placing them on the ground.

She let one of her feet touch the wooden steps leading down towards the ladder, and proceeded to descend the steps with her blanket and book in hand. The binoculars were meant to stay in the crow’s nest but the glass she was coming back for after she returned her blanket and book and changed into other presentable clothes.

Nami went down the ladder and jumped onto the wooden flooring leading towards the door and down another ladder to the uppermost floor of Sunny. She went past the kitchen and infirmary and down more steps, past the main deck, up to the second floor where the women’s room was.

Nami entered and changed quickly and left the room, descending the steps hurriedly, she went over to the main mast and waited for the rest to reach. When they did and all members of the Straw Hats were accounted for, Nami began explaining what island they were going to and the tasks assigned to every member.

* * *

 

“Okay, the island we’re going to is a summer island.” Nami said, “And all though it shows up in my maps that doesn’t mean that we should let down our guard. We don’t know how the villagers react to outsiders, more so that we’re pirates.” 

Nami glanced up at the painted skull and crossbones on their mast, flapping freely with the wind, and continued, “So,” Here, she glared directly at the monster trio -though it was temporarily changed to duo as Sanji was still injured-, “You have to absolutely, definitely, unquestionably promise not to get into any trouble.”

“Because if you do,” A dark, evil look passed over Nami’s features and transformed her delicate feminine look into something demonic and Nami-like. “-And you end up attracting the Navy’s attention,” 

Nami made a slicing motion with her thumb and the base of her neck, obviously stating the death that would befall the culprits responsible for the trouble.

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji shivered simultaneously but the latter recovered first and showered Nami with thoughtless praise. “Ah, Nami-san! You’re still beautiful even when you’re being unreasonable.”

Zoro huffed and rolled his eyes, “Idiot cook.”

“What was that, challenged marimo?”

“Who the hell are you calling challenged?”

“That’s what you have a problem with?” Usopp said but no one paid him any attention.

“You, stupid swordsman!” Sanji retorted, “You can’t tell your right from your left and you call me the idiot?”

“I can tell my right from my left!” Zoro argued back and Sanji didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity presented before him.

“Really?” Sanji taunted, “Then, right now, where’s left and where’s right?”

Zoro paused for a second and looked at his arms and up at the ocean, then back at his arms and up at the ocean, again, and again, and again. He stopped after the fourth one and simply crossed his hands over his thick chest and said whilst looking towards the side, “A man doesn’t need to know his right from his left in life.”

Sanji chortled and was about to respond when Nami rolled her eyes and interrupted him before a single word could leave his lips.

“Okay, stop!” Nami had seen how that argument could quickly escalate to a fight or to something worse involving Luffy, and that was definitely not something Nami wanted to deal with, a few hours from shore.

“As I was saying, we can’t get into any fights, arguments, or even quarrels here. We have to play it low and try to relax.” Nami threw a look at Sanji but it was fortunately missed when Sanji and Zoro began a glaring game.

“Now, we need someone to stay back and protect Sunny in case something happens while the rest of us go and get supplies and look around.” Nami looked at the eight people standing before and was about to chose the one to remain when Franky spoke.

“I’ll stay back, Nami-san.” He said and they turned to look at him questioningly. Never had any of them willingly volunteered to stay back and watch over Sunny, so hearing Franky willingly choose to stay came as a shock.

“I have some things I need to do anyway, and Sunny could do with some repairs and an upgrade.” Franky shrugged his large shoulders and said to Usopp, “Remember to buy that thing we talked about, yeah?”

Usopp nodded and said with a flick to his lengthy nose and a wide grin. “Yeah! I’ll bring it back as soon as I can.”

“Then, I’ll stay as well,” Robin said and chuckled at the surprised looks from her nakama. “I don’t feel well so I’d like to stay behind and rest.”

Chopper instantly became worried. “Are you okay, Robin? How do you feel? How’s your body? Do you have a fever? Should I get you some medicine? Do you need me to-”

Zoro covered Chopper’s mouth with his hand and waited for the young reindeer to catch his breath while Robin chuckled at his flustered reaction.

“No, Doctor-san, its alright.” She reassured the youngest member by ruffling his fur and giving him a small smile. “After some rest, I guarantee I’ll be okay.”

Chopper looked wary but after a few words of encouragement from the others, he nodded and decided to not bombard Robin with check-ups and a vast amount of medicine.

“Okay, but if you feel worse, make sure to tell me, okay?”

Robin chuckled again but nodded and promised to tell the young doctor if her condition persisted and worsened.

“So, Franky and Robin are staying behind,” Nami said and her voice brought the others attention back to her. “That means me, Brook, Chopper and Sanji are going to gather supplies while Usopp, Luffy and Zoro look around.”

“This means,” She gave Usopp a serious look and said, “-Usopp is in charge. If something happens I’ll take it out on all three of you, starting with the one in charge.”

“Eeeeh!?” Usopp complained but Nami didn’t give him a second to finish and added, “Is everyone on board with the plan? We do nothing, attract no attention and act like normal civilians who have traveled a lengthy distance and have come for a rest.”

The group nodded and Nami clapped her hands and told them to go get ready to disembark, but as she watched them walk away, Nami was hit by an odd feeling in her gut telling her to turn and continue on with the journey, regardless of whether the log pose set or not.

Passing it off as having ingested some food that didn’t agree with her stomach, Nami ignored the feeling and sat down to wait for her team, all the while oblivious to the pair of eyes watching her several blocks away.

* * *

 

Chopper transformed into his four-legged version and acted as their pet when they disembarked and began walking towards the town with Sanji resting on his back. Afte the two years, Chopper’s training had proven extremely useful in situations where one of them was hurt and needed to be carried. The injured person, taking into count their weight and proportion, could be placed onto Chopper’s back and be safely transported to safety, just like he was meant to do for Sanji if things went haywire.

* * *

 

_‘Hey, Chopper, I have something to ask.’ Nami entered the infirmary and closed the door behind her before going to take a seat on the empty bed. She wringed her hands nervously but looked up, determination clear in her orange irises, and asked her question._

_‘Is it possible for us to leave Sanji behind?’_

_Chopper had been working on a new medical concoction on his desk but Nami’s question distracted him and made him look up. The sleeve of his white coat caught the side of the test tube and nearly tipped over. Chopper caugh it just before it could and kept it at a safe distance before answering Nami’s question._

_‘What do you mean ‘leave behind?’_

_‘I mean, if we can manage to convince him to stay behind and not move around so much, especially since going outside, to the real outdoors and very real rough ground, holds plenty of threats and potential risks to his...condition.’_

_‘Well...’ Chopper hesitated and turned around to fully face Nami, ‘The thing is Nami, I can’t tell him not to go out because we both know he will, with or without my permission, Sanji will try to go and look around, and that’s because, if he stays here where he is constantly coddled, and watched over, and helped at every single turn, he’ll end up feeling annoyed and useless and that could be worse for his health than a simple stroll outside.’_

_Nami bit her lip worriedly and leaned back to rest her palms against the white bedsheet. ‘I know that, really, I do, but...’_

_‘I know,’ Chopper said, voice soft and sympathetic, ‘I know how you feel, Nami. I also want to protect Sanji and make sure he recovers completely and as soon as possible, but the best we can do for him is to not coddle him and let him go outside.’_

_‘Okay...’ Nami relented and sighed heavily. “We’ll have to make sure he doesn’t get into any fights then.’_

* * *

 

“How far is this town?” Brook complained and fanned himself with his bony wrist, “Its really hot!”

“Well, of course it is,” Nami said but also tugged at her tank top, trying to ease the pressure building up on her body. “It is a summer island, after all. It has to be hot.”

“Yeah...” Chopper said and breathed heavily. His blue hat fell way past his eyes and instead of saving him from the bright, harsh sunlight, it only served to increase the intensity and drain him of all energy.

“Oi, Chopper, are you okay?” Sanji felt the sudden jolt in Chopper’s stride and gently touched the young reindeer’s fur. “You need a break?”

“No...” Chopper denied but the exhaustion was clear in his tone. “I’m fine.”

“Stop lying,” Sanji scolded but reached for one of the bags strapped to Chopper’s side and removed a tall, wide bottle filled with cool lemonade. He popped it open and reached back for another bowl and tapped Chopper, signalling for him to stop and take a break.

“Here. Drink this.”

Chopper stopped and took a large sip of the drink, grateful for the cool liquid. “Thank you,” Chopper said and took a moment to rest in the shade with Sanji beside him.

Nami and Brook followed in their example and also rested in the shade. Nami wiped away the sweat from her forehead with a wet tissue while Brook fanned himself with the large hat he was wearing as protection.

“I don’t think the town is far from here.” Nami said and shielded her eyes from the sun and turned to look at the direction she believed the town to be at. “We might have to walk a bit further but I think we’re close.”

“If you say so, then it must be true~” Sanji called out, and after a few more moments of resting and replenishing the water lost from their bodies; the four began the long journey towards the town.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un edited and not proofread!


	9. Ten-fucking- pigs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That was a cowardly move.” Zoro said, his voice bored but stern, and lowered in disapproval. “Swordsmen don’t fight like cowards.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am just so sorry. That is all I can really say.

The town was livelier than either Straw Hat had expected. But in all honesty none of them had really known what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t live music performed by a few old men and a handful of young men and women and their children dancing happily on the street, and despite the loud music being performed a few feet away, they could hear loud bursts of laughter and rhythmic clapping.

“What...is going on?” Brook asked, and his fellow members shrugged their shoulders but he didn’t catch the act, too mesmerized by the sheer happy-go-lucky ambience.

“Should we...?” Nami trailed off, and hesitated to move forward, not wanting to ruin the party with their sudden and possibly unwelcome appearance.

But before Sanji, or anyone could respond, one of the women busy dancing with her son and daughter happened to look up in their direction, and immediately stopped. Even her children were surprised by the sudden halt in their mothers’ movements who looked up, and followed her gaze to where the Straw Hats stood.

“Mama,” The daughter tugged on her mother’s skirt and reached out towards her brother. Taking his hand in hers, the girl proceeded to hold it tightly. “Who are they? I’ve never seen them before.”

The mother glanced down at her kids and offered them a warm smile, saying kindly, “I don’t know, Lara, but Mama is going to find out.” She looked back up at the Straw Hats and this time when she spoke, others noticed the oddities standing alone and paused in their movements to look at them. “Who might you be? This is an island of peace, not war. If you’re looking for trouble, go somewhere else.”

Nami was the first to react and hold out her palms in a halting, placating gesture. “No! No! We want no trouble, no trouble at all. We’re...” Nami paused and glanced back at her crew, “-travelers.” She looked back at the islanders and continued, “We just want to restock our supplies and be on our way.”

They waited in tense, anxious silence for the islanders to respond and when they did, they all half-expected to be chased after with flaming torches and pitchforks, but instead of following through and meeting their wild expectations, the islanders did something far from what they expected.

“Ah! You should have said so!” The woman said, a wide grin over her lips. “Travelers are very welcome here!” She opened her arms in a wide, beckoning gesture and made a come hither motion. “Come! Come, join the party!”

Nami, bewildered, looked back at her crew members and found their faces mirrored hers. She looked back at the woman and slowly, very slowly, took a step forward, and another, and another, and another, till she stood within grabbing distance of the woman.

“Thank you.” Nami said and bowed her head respectfully, but before she could lift her head, her hand was grabbed, and she looked down at it to find the daughter, Lara, holding her hand, and a hesitant smile on her tiny face.

“Would you like to dance with me, sister?” Lara asked and Nami, not having the heart to deny a child directly to her face, agreed, and was pulled to the middle of the dance floor where the other dancing villagers moved back to give them space.

The woman, Lara’s mother, went for the remaining members and dragged them to where Nami was. Sanji included. Though in his case, he ended up being carried delicately by a rather strong, muscular woman with light feet for her large size.

Brook was dancing with Lara’s sister while Chopper, in his real form, was dancing with Lara’s mother. All the while, the other villagers slowly joined them, forming a larger circle with the Straw Hats in the middle, and the loud joyful music resumed.

Zoro, Luffy and Usopp had gotten lost. That part wasn’t surprising. What was, was that Usopp had been in the lead, the one showing them the way, and yet they had gotten lost. How, Usopp didn’t know, and frankly was too busy trying to stop Luffy from eating their split bentos.

“Luffy! Stop! Don’t eat that, that’s ours to share!” He smacked Luffy’s head and reached for their bentos only to have them yanked back and away from his reach.

“But I’m hungry~” Luffy whined and ran away from Usopp.

“Oi!” Usopp called out and began running after Luffy, “Come back here!” Usopp had the sense to turn back and found Zoro trailing off on his own, going down the complete opposite path to the one they were previously trekking on. “Oi! You, come back here!”

Usopp was torn between the two and didn’t know who to run to first. If he went for Luffy that would mean Zoro would, definitely, and irrevocably end up lost in a ditch somewhere, and Usopp lacked the patience or the time to search for him. But if he went for Zoro, they’d starve.

It was obvious which choice was the best one.

“Luffy!” Usopp chased after the dark-haired male and yelled multiple obscenities at him, “I swear to God, if you finish that food before we eat it, I will kill you!”

 

* * *

 

 

Zoro, ignoring either males, went to what he assumed was his right -it was actually the left- and ended up going through a small thicket, down a hill, past several houses, and up another hill before finding himself at what could only be described as the ‘downtown’.

The area he was in was shoddy and dark, as expected of the least productive part of a town. The streets were littered with various garbage; tissues, used condoms, diapers, empty bottles, and many other things Zoro didn’t care enough to decipher. He passed by sleeping, possibly drunk or high on some dangerous drug, bodies either women or men, and a few of the former’s had wailing babies in their slender, practically bony arms.

Zoro passed by them and moved forward, going deeper into the true heart of the town, where the real people and their real, dangerous problems lay. He went down the street till it branched off into two, one going down a path to his left, and another forward.

Zoro chose to traverse the path that led forward. It seemed like the right path for a few minutes. But he quickly decided against it when he found he was surrounded by a group of youths wielding a number of well-developed weapons. Zoro knew there was no way such a small group had anything to offer to whomever they bought the weapons from, and had to wonder where they could have possibly gotten them from.

“Those are some nice-looking weapons.” Zoro wasn’t a man to beat around the bush unless he had to, and directly confronted the youths, speaking to all of them but mainly addressing the leader, who, he guessed, was the one with the finest weapon. “Where did you get them from?”

“Why should we tell you?” The leader said, and came forward, brandishing his well-forged sword proudly. “Unless you have something to offer.” He opened his mouth in a nasty grin, his cracked, yellow teeth visible for all to see.

The other youths grinned as well, and Zoro looked at each and every one of them. He rolled his eyes. _How cliché_.

“Get out of the way. I don’t want to have to kill you.” Zoro said and casually placed a hand over his three swords on his hip, held there by a green belly-warmer.

The leader cackled, head thrown back and mouth opened widely, and looked back at Zoro, dark eyes glinting threateningly. “Those are some pretty big words, old man. Are you sure you can live up to them?” He said and abruptly launched at Zoro, his form low and practiced.

Zoro pulled out Shuusui and blocked the young ones attack; the two swords grating against each other painfully. The leader pulled back and Zoro remained where he was, a dull, uninterested look fixed on his face.

“That was a cowardly move.” Zoro said, his voice bored but stern, and lowered in disapproval. “Swordsmen don’t fight like cowards.”

A displeased glint showed in the young man’s eyes and Zoro didn’t miss it. “This isn’t a fight with honor, old man. This is a street fight. The only honor here is between you and your twisted sense of swordsmanship,” He said and began circling Zoro, trying to tempt the larger male to follow him and circle around each other, but Zoro refused and stood where he was, letting the younger one do all the work.

“You understand, right, old man!?” He tried attacking from Zoro’s ‘defenseless’ behind and lifted his sword up and pulled it from his left towards Zoro’s right shoulder in an attack, only to draw back at the last minute and reverse the attack, bringing it from his right and targeting Zoro’s mid-section.

Zoro had anticipated the attack and waited for the sword to come close, real close, before dodging to the side and turning around so quickly and knocking the man’s feet from underneath him. Zoro watched him fall and once his ass and back knocked onto the filthy ground, Zoro removed Shuusui and held its tip directly against the young adult’s heart, feeling the sword vibrate with each thump.

“You are a disgrace.” Zoro said and looked down at the young male before pulling back Shuusui and re-sheathing her, and turning away and going to resume his stroll down the dangerous parts of the island. His path was obstructed by the other members, angered by the humiliation of seeing their leader tossed and overpowered as though he was a child, their weapons high and all aimed at Zoro.

Zoro sighed and removed Shuusui, flipping it so the sharp edge faced the sky and the blunt faced the ground. This was going to take some time.

* * *

 

 

Sanji, Nami, Brook and Chopper were made to dance, drink and party throughout the entire morning, from the time they were spotted, to when the sun was setting, and past that, till a bonfire was lit and the stars were shining boldly in the dark night sky.

They were exhausted beyond their wildest imaginations, and wanted to take the longest nap known to man. But that was temporarily postponed by their shared marvel at the stamina, tenacity and passion the villagers had as they were still dancing, just as enthusiastically hours ago, and showed no signs to stop.

Luckily, Nami wormed her way out from underneath her partner’s arms and went to take a well-deserved rest behind the shade of a building. Nami panted and tried to catch her breath. She took several deep breaths, and turned to look for her crew, and despite the exhaustion, she couldn’t contain the snort that escaped her.

The sight before her eyes was purely comical, and Nami wished she could capture it. Sanji was no longer being carried by the muscular woman from before and, -Nami supposed- to Sanji’s horror, a far slender, petite looking girl was holding him with little strain visible on her face.

Chopper was no longer dancing on his hooves, but rather being carried by different people and was practically asleep in Lara’s arms. Brook, on the other hand, had been knocked out by the alcohol and dancing and had passed out on the ground, resting half of his body on the –ironically enough- liquor store.

Eventually –after letting them suffer for a few more seconds- Nami felt bad for her nakama, and went to intercept before a new song came on and one of them was taken for another dance. She managed to save all of them, except for Brook, who looked genuinely happy to be asleep on the liquor store, and Nami didn’t feel like dealing with a ninety-year old man.

 

* * *

 

She managed to book them into an inn located a few feet away. It wasn’t far away that the music was silenced, but was close enough that it was a dull pounding of drums and feet. Nami dropped each male in their room –Sanji and Chopper were sharing one- and went to her own room, passing out on the bed immediately, snoring lightly.

Zoro threw the last male onto the ground and held his sword threateningly above his head, prepared to strike, and watched as the man quivered and began trembling violently, begging and pleading for his life.

“Go.” Zoro said and the kid didn’t waste another second, and ran off into the night, leaving his fallen friends behind. Zoro looked away from the coward and back at the rest who had dared to take him on. They were -for the most part- uninjured, but Zoro had gotten a few good punches and kicks in and was mildly sure some of them had either broken or cracked ribs.

“Ngh...” The leader groaned and looked up at Zoro. The blood gushing from his nose and the cut on his upper lip poured into his mouth, and when he spoke, his previously stained teeth had gotten dyed a disgusting color. The leader spat out some of the blood and forced every ounce of his strength to shakily sit up and grin manically at Zoro.

“You’re not bad, old man.” He said cockily and Zoro resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _Kids_.

“You managed to knock out all of my men, and not get a single scratch on you.”

Zoro couldn’t help it and left an unimpressed look on his face; the urge to roll his eyes slowly killing him from the inside. “You haven’t answered my question. Where did you get those weapons? It's not something that you should be having.”

Zoro had been tired of these kids for a while, and he’d had plenty of opportunities to leave, but the nagging curiosity of the origin of those medium-class weapons, specifically the leader’s, had kept him there.

The leader’s face flashed and Zoro thought it was anger, but upon looking closer, he’d noticed it was shame. Whether it was shame on the origin of the weapons, or on being beaten, Zoro didn’t know and didn’t particularly care.

“The island provides it.” The leader responded, drawing Zoro back and making him focus, “It gives us different kinds of things. Weapons, food, clothes, whatever you need, it will give.”

Zoro’s brow furrowed. It sounded too good to be true. Even if it was the Grand Line, he’d never heard of any island that did that, freely, with no payment of sort of sacrifice.

“How?” Zoro asked but the leader clamped shut and pretended not to hear Zoro’s question. “Oi, I’m talking to you.” Zoro said, mildly annoyed by the young man’s disrespect.

“I’ve said too much already.” The man said and slowly picked himself up, dusting off the dirt from his clothes, though it was a futile effort. “Leave. Now. Before you end up hurt.” The man had spouted some dicey lines considering he’d been the one to be defeated first, but Zoro watched him limp over to his injured crew and slowly help them back up, and decided to let the fight go. However some suspicion persisted and Zoro pushed on, walking past the fallen thugs and further into the less fortunate areas.

 

* * *

 

 

Brook was the first to wake up. He opened his eyes, or would have had there been any, and looked forward at the oddly quiet building in front of him. Brook kept his bony hand onto the ground and pushed his weight onto that hand and his feet, slowly rising to his full height.

Brook adjusted his crooked suit and hat, and crouched down to pick his fallen walking stick. He stood back up, and slowly turned side to side. He looked around and was unnerved to find the streets, silent and empty, completely unlike yesterday.

Yesterday.

Brook remembered there had been a vigorous, energetic party that lasted till sunrise. He remembered the singing he’d done. The dancing. The excessive laughter and the stench of booze and the lingering smell of tobacco in the air. But that was all gone.

Everything was gone. The people. The alcohol. Even the bonfire they’d enthusiastically danced around. It was all gone, like it never even existed.

But Brook knew, deep in his bones, that it did exist, and it did happen. What he didn’t know or understand was why it was all gone. Why everyone, even though the sun was shining brightly on him and the earth, there was nobody on the streets. No, let alone there being someone on the street, there was nothing. Not even a glimmer of life.

Seeing that multiple shivers down Brook’s spine and make him clutch his walking stick tighter as he began walking forward. The only thought in his mind being to find Nami, Sanji and Chopper. From there, they would decide what to do, because Brook, for some reason, didn’t trust he was safe.

 

* * *

 

“Make sure you tie its legs up tightly. We can’t let a great deal like this slip through our fingers.” One man, nicknamed Kuro, said, as he double-knotted Chopper’s hooves and tightened the bandana on his mouth and eyes.

“I know that.” His friend, Shino, said and copied his movements, double-knotting Chopper’s hind legs. “But still, I can’t believe they would really want this thing. What is it anyway?"

“I don’t know.” The first man said, and shrugged his shoulders, “Some sort of raccoon? Or deer?”

“I’m surprised he didn’t get found and kidnapped before. He’s almost as weird as the skeleton guy,”

“Nah. The skeleton one, what was his name again? Brook? -is seriously weird. I mean, where do you even find a skeleton that can talk, dance and sing?”

Now it was Shino’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know, but, wondering about that isn’t our job.”

“That’s true.” Kuro said and tested the knots by tugging on them harshly. He was satisfied when they held strong and didn’t yield. “Our job is to deliver them to the…” He cast a glance at Shino  and he nodded understandingly. He didn’t need to say it out loud, because everyone in the island knew who they really belonged to. “I’m done here. Let’s get going before the blonde one wakes up.” Kuro said, and lifted Chopper up by his bound legs.

“Okay. Here,” Shino handed over Chopper’s front legs and climbed off the bed, slowly as to not wake up Sanji. He doubted he’d be able to wake up after all the tranquilizer they spiked his drink with, but he didn’t want to risk it and accidentally wake him up. “Carry this one while I go get the woman. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Got it.” He took Chopper and silently left the room, nodding once at the manager, before exiting the building and climbing onto the two-seater bike. He kept Chopper in his lap and waited for his friend to return with the second package in hand.

 

* * *

 

Brook went around the streets twice, and during that time, there was still no sighting of his crew, or any of the villagers. The sight was unnerving when he first woke up, but actually walking and looking around, it became disconcerting, to say in the least. “Where is everyone?” Brook said out loud, looking at the buildings as he passed by. “I can’t see anyone around, and I don’t want to go asking around.” Brook knew, from past experience, that going, alone, into a seemingly deserted area, was a bad sign written in glaringly obvious bold letters.

 

* * *

 

“Now…” Usopp said slowly, coming to a stop just before he fell over the edge of a short cliff into the sea. “Where the hell did Luffy go!?” Usopp went back slowly so as not to fall, and glanced to his right then to his left. He wondered how Luffy could manage to navigate through the thicket, while eating their food, and also manage to out run him. It sounded impossible, but Luffy’s entire being was impossible.

There was nothing possible about his stretchy skin, his inhuman appetite, his uncanny ability to smell food from literal miles, or his incomprehensible strength, determination and luck. But, however much some of those qualities helped them in sticky situation; they also suffered from them. And so far, their biggest problem was his ever-present appetite.

“Luffy!” Usopp held his hands around his mouth and yelled out, hoping the male would be close-by and hear his call. “Where the hell did you go?”

Usopp waited for a few minutes after yelling and got no response. He tried again, and again, and again, but he still received no response, and gave up on trying to call Luffy out. He began walking towards his left, and searched around the trees for any sign of a cavernous young male. He found none as he went further and further, but Usopp didn’t give up and kept vigilantly pursuing his captain.

“Luffy!” Usopp yelled out, “I swear if you’ve finished all the food…!” He cut off and tried thinking of a threat- “I don’t know what I’ll do, but I swear it will be bad!” -but settled for leaving it till later.

Obviously, Luffy didn’t hear him, or if he did, he didn’t bother to respond.

“I swear,” Usopp began grumbling to himself as he trekked through the forest. “All he ever does is eat, eat, eat. I mean, yeah, sure he fights, but then just goes right back to eating!” “And it’s always my food! Not Chopper’s, not Brook’s, not Nami- ah,” He paused and looked up at the sky, “-he’d definitely be killed if he tried.” "But-” Usopp continued walking but then almost immediately stopped when, by some unknown miracle, he found himself at the one place he didn’t even think was possible to reach on foot. Usopp looked back over his shoulder at the vast arrangement of trees, and at the town before him.

“How-?” Usopp repeated the motion a few more times, and was still puzzled when he chose to descend the short hill down to the town down below. “I was just in the trees right now, how did I end up here?”

Usopp thought back on the route he’d take whilst chasing Luffy. He remembered taking several different turns, but couldn’t decide if there was any sign of a town around them, being too preoccupied with Luffy. He moved past that and thought back on the few minutes he’d been inside the thicket.

Something stood out.

The phrase, as he had so graciously though, ‘a few minutes’ didn’t add up. A thicket is a group of densely populated trees or bushes, and judging from the exterior view, Usopp summarized it would, most definitely, take you more than ‘just a few minutes’ to traipse through it. Yet he’d emerged from there before half an hour was over. Something was definitely wrong with that forest, and as he came closer to the town, Usopp was certain something was amiss with the town’s people as well.

 

* * *

 

“There.” Kuro said, handing over Nami’s limp body over, “Hold them tightly. We don’t need them falling over and getting injured. That will only lower their price.”

“I know.” Shino said, and held on to Nami’s and Chopper’s midsection tightly, effectively pining them to his body. “Let’s go before their people get here. The last thing we need is to be found out.”

Kuro nodded and climbed onto his motorcycle. He started the engine and carefully pulled out from the side of the building and drove towards the less appealing side of the city. He drove slowly, but as they went on, he kept increasing his speed, till they were zooming past buildings and shops.

“Be careful.” Shino warned when he saw how they cut it close with a particularly sharp turn that sent him, Chopper and Nami leaning onto the side of the car.

Kuro nodded and slowed down slightly. He still drove quickly but at a less-dangerous pace, and got to their destination faster than he expected them to. He parked the bike and got off first, before taking Nami and swinging her over his shoulder. He moved back and let his friend exit the vehicle with Chopper carried in the exact same position.

“Alright, let’s go.” He said, and went on first. Shino followed behind and together they walked down a short road, before turning right, then going forward for a while and then turning left, and then another turn after that, till they stopped in front of a seemingly empty, and abandoned warehouse.

He knocked sharply on the door and stepped back to wait. The door opened and a man, roughly their size, only with bulkier forearms and biceps than they did, beckoned them in. He moved aside for them to pass, and did a quick search of the area before closing the door and locking it.

“He’s in there.” The man said roughly, and pointed in the direction of a metallic door modified with several different locks and patterns, specially designed to be mentally-challenging to anyone who dared enter or escape.

The two males nodded and went towards the door. They’d done many trafficking deals before, using pirates, marines, and sometimes ordinary travellers, but each time, the feelings inside their hearts and guts never changed. The fear and terror were still deeply lodged into their skulls, fearing the next victims could be them or their family. The disgust and horror always simmered underneath their skin, burning them from the inside, and making them weak with shame, but the anger was the most prominent of emotions each time that door creaked and whined open and shut.

 

* * *

 

“Ohohoho,” A man with a disfigured face, and protruding belly sat up eagerly once he saw the two men walking in. “Did you manage to get them?” He could barely hide his excitement as he bounced up and down on his plush chair.

“Yes.” Kuro was holding Nami and was the one to reply before laying her down for the plump male to see. “It was just as you said, Sir. There was no trouble at all.” Shino followed suit, and rested Chopper’s body onto the ground near Nami’s. He kept his head bowed and mouth shut, and let his friend handle the conversation.

“Hmph,” The woman sitting beside him huffed and stuck her sharp, pointy nose in the air. “She looks like an unseeming woman. Look at her skimpy outfit. How does a woman, with any semblance of self-respect, walk around looking like that?”

The man rolled his eyes and let out a whine. “Leave her alone, Mother. She looks fine like that,” He had a bit of drool dripping down his chin, but was oblivious to it and continued sizing Nami with clear lecherous intent. “I like it.”

“Hmph,” His mother, Sathlei Ingalls, huffed again and rolled her eyes before looking at Nami’s resting body with distaste. “I don’t understand why you like these...slaves. They’re rude, ill-mannered, poorly dressed, all such dreadful qualities.” She gave her son a pleading look and said, “Stoddard, you know I can find you proper slaves, who are into your…tastes. You don’t have to keep hiring these scum to find you a willing slave.” She kept a gloved hand on her son’s fleshy forearm and tried sweetening her voice to convince him. “Mama can do that for you.”

Stoddard paused, and seemed to actually consider Sathlei’s offer before stopping and glaring at the two extra souls watching them. “What do you scum want?” He snapped viciously and sent another harsh glare their way.  “Who gave you the right to stand in my presence, and breathe the air I breathe?” Hearing Stoddard’s ridiculous words made one man's head snap up with an expression of complete and total disbelief.

“What?” He couldn’t help but talk, even though Kuro grabbed his forearm tightly, a silent plea to keep his mouth shut and accept it. “ _We_ don’t deserve to breathe air? _Us,_ the ones who do all the work for you, while you sit here and benefit from our hard work, don’t deserve to _breathe air_ ? _Your air?_ ”

“This trash…!” Sathlei said and signalled for the guards, “You dare complain after _we grace_ you with our presence, let you _feast_ upon our beauty, and let you live on our land?” She did nothing to disguise her hatred and disgust, and looked down at the two males from her higher vantage point.

The abandoned warehouse had been forcibly remodeled when the Ingalls first stepped onto the island. They needed a place to stay and adamantly refused to share airspace with any of the common villagers. Thus, causing the young men of the island plenty of grief and heartache, the villagers had been forced to go and find the perfect place for them; one that didn’t look like a hideout or a place the Ingalls would dare consider coming close to, but was large enough to hold them and their...pets.

They rebuilt the interior and raised it from the ground to a higher point through the usage of stairs. The ‘thrones’ they sat upon were made from the finest metal, and material, forged by the greatest carpenter on the island. It was deemed shabby, and distasteful, but he remembered how his uncle and grandfather had worked on those pieces, and each time he saw them sitting on the chair; it had several levels of anger coursing through him.

“Your land? Your land?” He repeated twice in case his ears were deceiving him. “This isn’t your land! It’s never been your land, and never will be, filthy noble!” He spat onto the ground and revelled in their simultaneous disgusted recoil.  “You did not grace us with your presence! You invaded us, without a care for how we feel, or how it’d impact our lives!”

Sathlei had a retort prepared and was about to speak when Shino continued, his voice growing in volume and intensity with each word. “Your beauty doesn’t even exist! You two are, by far, the most unattractive people I have ever seen!”

Albeit harsh, his words did hold truth to them.

The Ingalls were the definition of unattractive with their seemingly identical sharp, slightly misshapen pointy nose; and their eyes that were too small for their oddly large bodies. They both had wrinkly saggy skin but it was unknown whether that was due to age or genetics. And their heavily overweight bodies coupled with the unpleasing protruding belly, didn’t do much for them.

“How dare you!” Sathlei’s voice was scandalised and her unpleasant face was contorted in outrage. “Guards!” She hollered and less than a second later, the doors burst open and the guard in charge of protecting the door looked around, alarmed.

“What is it, Your Highness?” He asked and looked back and forth between the three.

“Get him out.” She growled through gritted teeth. “I don’t want to see him alive.”

The guard looked panicked but quickly recovered and dragged the daring male out by his collar; his friend followed closely behind, and as soon as they were out of site, he rounded on him and knocked him out of the other man’s grip and onto the floor.

Shino cried in pain and held his rapidly bruising cheek gingerly. “What the hell man?” He asked, looking up at his friend and possible enemy.

“You absolute idiot.” Kuro said, and squatted down to be at eye level. “Why would you piss them off  right before we got paid, huh?” He clocked his friend in the jaw again and added, “Now look what you’ve done.”

“Did you not think about the people, _your family_ ,  who are going to be targeted by the CP-0? Or even worse, by the Tenryuubito?” He continued and glared down at his friend, ashamed by his actions.  “Now thanks to your idiotic pride; you, and your family -hell, maybe the entire town, are doomed.”

“You heard what they were saying!” Shino retaliated and got to his feet, uncaring whether the Tenryuubito heard. “They basically called us trash! And that we should be glad of their presence in our lives! How can I be happy when all they’ve done is plunder and kill, like a bunch of pirates!”

“That is how its always been!” Kuro shouted back, “Ever since, they came to this island, that is how its been! You know this! You agreed to it! We all did!” He turned and lifted up his shirt, exposing an bright red hoof print on his back. “We all have this on our backs. Proof that we belong to them. That we’re nothing but slaves.”

Shino clenched his jaw and ignored the faint throbbing pain on his back. “I know that.” He muttered lowly. “I know I agreed to this. I know I sold myself up to them. I know I did this to myself, but doesn’t it make you angry!?” He lifted his head and looked at the other male, “Aren’t you in pain!?”

Kuro lowered his shirt and turned to face his friend, head lowered and voice low. “Of course I am. I am angry. So angry.”

“Then-!” He tried to say but Kuro spoke faster.

“But,” He lifted his head and Shino had never seen his friend’s eyes so dead and lifeless. “We learned to push it down, and live. Living is far more important than any useless pride could ever be.”  Kuro walked past Shino and went out the warehouse, leaving Shino to contemplate his words.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usopp followed the barrel up towards the holder and saw a burly man with muscles as large as Usopp’s thighs on either arm, holding a gun with a sneer on his face.  
> “What do you think you’re doing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all waited over two months for succh crap, I'm truly sorry, a lot has been going on so its been harder to think and write/ I'll try harder, but please overlook any mistakes cause its almost 9pm and my spine and feet are killing me.

Sanji woke up roughly two hours after Nami and Chopper had been tied up and taken away from their respective bedrooms. He got up and slowly racked a hand through his disheveled blonde locks. He yawned widely and stretched his arms above his head, stretching his head to the side and then he dropped his arms to the fluffy bed and turned to look at the sleeping form of Chopper.

Only, there was nothing on the bed. 

Sanji was confused by that. He knew all too well about the different times they all woke up. Luffy, Brook and Usopp were always the last, while he, Nami, and Robin were the early rises in their crew. Franky, Zoro and Chopper always woke up hours after he, Nami and Robin had already started their day.

Which was why, it made zero sense for Chopper to be awake before him.

Sanji thought that for once, maybe he was the one who had woken up late. After all, they had danced, and partied till the sun rose. The nightly activities must have worn him out and made him sleep for an extra hour or so, which, by the time he woke, Chopper, and Nami were definitely awake.

However, when he checked his body clock, Sanji was affirmative that he was awake at the usual, proper time. He had not slept in, and if the unruffled, smooth bedsheets were anything to go by, neither had Chopper.

He limped off the bed and even though it was shameful, he crawled on his hands over to Chopper’s bed and used his upper body strength to heave his body onto it. 

_ ‘I knew it.’ _ Sanji smoothed out the invisible creases in the sheet with his hand and when he lifted it and looked at his palm; there was no fur. Chopper had a tendency to shed fur on whatever surface he’d be resting against, and looking at his smooth, empty palm, Sanji was absolutely certain that Chopper had not made it to this room.

Sanji’s plan to get out off the room and try to find his nakama wasn’t as full proof, or classy as he originally thought it out to be. He’d planned to crawl his way out of the room and the inn and try to find anyone, his friends preferably, that could help.

* * *

The plan didn’t work out too well when Sanji crawled out of the room and found that there were stairs leading down to the exit. He was capable of moving down stairs with only his arms, but Sanji wondered how embarrassing it’d be if one of the locals saw a full-grown man slowly going down the stairs by his arms.

Sanji squashed the thought away because there were more important things to worry about rather than his appearance. Chopper could be missing. Sanji didn’t know how he came to that conclusion but he couldn’t shake off the bad feeling in his gut that persisted no matter how many times Sanji thought the younger male was strong and could protect himself.

Sanji somehow managed to descend the stairs and found the front desk was empty. There was no manager, nothing, it was absolutely empty. And, upon taking a closer look, it seemed like the desk was cleared out. There was nothing there to show a person had been managing the place. Not even a stray pencil or piece of crumpled up paper.

Sanji found that even stranger but didn’t waste any time on it and went towards the door. Luck favored him because at that moment, a distinctive unrealistically slender male dressed in a dusty and slightly torn suit passed by the store, and Sanji immediately yelled out his name.

* * *

 

Brook stopped and turned when he heard a voice call his name. The streets were still empty even on this side of town and he felt a chill come over him at the thought that it could be a ghost or an evil spirit calling out to him.

He glanced around, scared and slightly shaking, when he heard it again, louder this time, and followed by a series of thumps. The harsh sounds scared him further but when he heard a rather colorful curse, he began retracing his steps. He stopped when he was in front of a store, and cautiously peered in, exclaiming joyfully when he saw Sanji’s sweat-drenched face.

* * *

 

“Sanji-san!” Brook opened the door enthusiastically and nearly smacked Sanji in the face with his dress-shoes. “I’m so happy to see you!”

Brook knelt down and looked at Sanji, smiling widely. “I was so lonely-! I thought you guys had gone and left me behind!”

Sanji waved Brook’s arms away and halted suddenly. He turned a sharp gaze onto Brook and asked, voice tight with dread and fear. “What do you mean ‘we had gone and left you?’ “

“I mean, when I woke up, the entire town was empty. There was no one on the streets and even in their houses. The entire place had been cleared out, and then when I went to find you guys, I couldn’t since I didn’t know where you were and I couldn’t ask any of the locals.”

“So, you haven’t seen or met up with Nami or Chopper?”

“No.” Brook shook his head, “You’re the first person I’ve seen since I woke up.”

“And by the way, Sanji-san, what are you doing here?” At Sanji’s confused expression, Brook went on to elaborate. “I mean, what are you doing here on the floor? Shouldn’t you be in bed asleep?”

“I was asleep.” Sanji answered and looked at the empty desk once more. “But when I woke up, Chopper wasn’t in the bed next to mine, and I haven’t checked on Nami cause I thought if she were awake she’d be out here with Chopper.” He turned back to Brook, “But now, I’m doubting whether she’s even still around here.”

“You said there was nobody around when you woke up, right?” Sanji tried waving off Brook’s help again but the skeleton wouldn’t allow it and helped Sanji up and onto the desk. 

“Yes. I was walking around, trying to see if I could find anyone, but you were the only person I managed to find.”

“And this place looks like there was nobody managing it for the past week, but the rooms and the beds smell fresh and clean, which means there were people here, and we did party with them yesterday. But, if Nami and Chopper are missing,” His expression became grim and his hold on the desk tightened, “-Then they might have been kidnapped.”

* * *

 

There wasn’t much to see past that. Broken down houses, littered with trash everywhere, and the occasional passed out (or dead) drunk. Zoro was greatly unsurprised by the sight, but he continued walking, futilely wishing to see something more, something more interesting, something that could quench the curiosity that burrowed into his skin and made him take another step.

 

But nothing changed. With each step Zoro took, going further and further away from his crewmates, he found nothing that came close to sating his curiosity. He questioned his gut’s decision and decided to turn back and go to find Luffy when his eye caught the faint glimmer of a shiny material.

* * *

 

“What do you mean kidnapped?” Brook asked, voice shaky. “”There’s no way that could have happened, Sanji.”

Sanji patted down his pockets for a cigarette but found them empty. He clicked his tongue and left his hands in his lap. His mouth itched for a cigarette but Sanji pushed the itch aside. There were other things to worry about. Such as the fact that their crew might have been kidnapped by the locals.

“Think about it, Brook.” Sanji said and looked up at the taller male. “We blacked out after having a rather lengthy and extravagant party held by the locals. Then someone, Nami I’m guessing, bought us a room and left us there. Then, the next morning she and Chopper are nowhere to be found? Doesn’t that sound suspicious to you? Not to mention the locals themselves are in hiding.”

Brook was hesitant on his response and took a moment to really think about Sanji’s words. He might have been right after all. Nami and Chopper were missing, and so were the locals. He hadn’t been taken to the room like Sanji and Chopper and had instead been left outside (which he was still bitter about) and when he had woken up, there had literally been no one around. The idea of kidnapping didn’t seem too far of a stretch, but Brook still had his doubts.

“What if they went out with the locals? I mean, maybe they just woke up early and tagged along with them.”

Sanji’s deadpan look made another appearance. “Do you really believe Nami would willingly wake up and go do work? For free?”

Brook hesitated again because he knew it was true. In the few months he’d spent travelling the seas with the Straw Hats, Brook learned Nami never, ever, ever did something free for someone else, and if she did it, she’d end up charging you at the end. Thus, the idea of Nami waking up early and going to work for someone else without an extraordinary payment was unbelievable.

“Exactly.” Sanji said when he saw Brook’s expression. “There’s no way that would happen. And there’s no other explanation for their disappearance, other than they either left of their own accord, or they were taken.” Sanji felt his tongue begin to sizzle and a weird jittery sensation overcome his fingers. The first signs of withdrawal. “My bet is on the latter.”

“Then, what do we do?!” Brook went into panic mode and begin thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened to Nami and Chopper. It sent a shiver down his bare spine and made his stomach fluttery. “We have to go find them!”

“Calm down, Brook.” Sanji said, and Brook was mildly surprised at how calm and collected he was considering he’d been the one to guess Nami and Chopper were kidnapped. “For starters, we need to inform the rest of the crew. I’m out of commission-” Sanji looked bitterly at his legs, “-and I can’t really help but the others have to know about this. The wider our search, the more likely we are to find them before something happens.”

“Okay.” Brook said, immediately agreeing with Sanji. “Then should I get going back to the ship?”

“No.” Sanji shook his head and said, “That would take too long. Go find the others, it doesn’t matter who. The marimo, Usopp, or Luffy. Find one of them and tell them what happened. Then go to Sunny and tell Franky and Robin-chwan. Tell them to keep their guard up and don’t let any suspicious character out of their sight.”

“And what will you do, Sanji-san? I feel bad about leaving you here.” Brook said and he looked down at the blonde male, worried. 

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Sanji desperately wanted to smoke but he had to fight it back. It was slowly killing him on the inside, the withdrawal, but he tried his best to keep the effects at bay, at the very least, until Brook left the inn. He didn’t want the older man to see him in that state. It felt too personal, invasive and it’d leave him feeling raw and Sanji didn’t want that.

“Get going.” He said firmly. “The more time you waste here, the further Nami and Chopper get away from us.”

Brook wanted to say something else, something reassuring, or encouraging, but he lacked the words, and instead nodded his head and went out of the inn, bolting off in the direction of the less fortunate side of town, hoping he’d pass by his crewmates before something irrefutable happened to Nami and Chopper.

* * *

 

“Urgh!” Nami grunted and thrashed in her bonds. “Let me out of this things and I swear-!” She turned and tried wiggling her fingers or arms out but the ropes tying her wrists together were too strong and bit into her skin with her wild thrashing.

“Nami!” Chopper called out weakly, trying to get her to stop. “You’re only hurting yourself by doing that. Stop it.”

“No, Chopper!” Nami refused and shook her hands violently. “Don’t you understand our situation?” She glared up at the Ingalls and said, “These pigs are trying to make us into slaves! There’s no way I would just sit there and let it happen!”

Chopper turned to the Ingalls as well but could barely make out their figure. The people who had tied him up had used rope with a strong essence of Kairouseki and Chopper had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

Sathlei clicked her tongue and looked down at Nami, a disgusted expression on her unattractive features, which only furthered to enhance her hideous features. “This brat-! How dare you call us pigs?! Who do you think you are talking to, huh?!”

“Disgusting swines that sell people and use them for their own amusement!” Nami snarled out, “You’re worse than the pigs rolling themselves in mud!”

Sathlei felt a vein throb and nearly burst on her forehead as she got off her chair, descended the steps and stopped right in front of Nami. “I don’t like that look in your eye.” She whispered and Nami was suddenly thrown onto her side as the resounding sound of a boot making contact with flesh resounded through the warehouse.

Sathlei brutally kicked Nami in the face with her shoe, and didn’t stop even when blood begin trickling out of Nami’s nose and the fresh cuts forming from her cheeks, forehead and chin. Sathlei continued savagely mutilating Nami until she’d ran out of energy and couldn’t lift her foot anymore.

Chopper watched the scene play out, and tried crawling to Nami’s rescue but the Kairouseki prevented him from even moving an inch forward. He had to lie there and watch as his friend, his crewmate was cruelly beaten to a pulp.

“Stop it!” He cried out but his voice was barely more than a whisper to the violent sounds emitting from Nami and Sathlei. “Don’t hurt her! Leave her alone!”

Sathlei panted heavily and wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked down at Nami’s limp body triumphantly. “Ha! For all your talk, you went silent pretty easily, pretty girl?” Sathlei bent down and looked down at Nami’s bloody face. She grinned evilly and was about to make another remark when Nami turned her head towards her and spat out the blood in her mouth directly onto Sathlei’s face.

“Die, you bitch.” Nami sneered and bared her bloody teeth at Sathlei.

Sathlei screeched and wailed, flailing around like a fish yanked from the ocean. She tried wiping away the blood but only made it worse. She kept making it worse with each wipe until her caked face was colored a bright, crimson red in oddly sized streaks across her face.

“You-! Bitch!” Sathlei screamed and turned to her son, “Stoddard! You can’t have this manner less, uncouth scum around you! She’d taint your pure soul!”

Stoddard simply cackled at the sight and clapped his hands together. It vaguely resembled a seal, slapping their fins together on the ice. “She’s fantastic!” He exclaimed and descended the steps to get a closer look at Nami. “I love her already!” He grinned widely and licked his lips, leaving a thick, slimy trail of drool on his fat lips. “It will be so much fun to break that spirit of hers, and make her submissive.”

Nami sneered at Stoddard and was about to spit in his face as well, but Stoddard saw through her and smacked her hard in the face just as she was about to spit.

“But, we will first have to make sure you can’t do these things anymore, huh?” He said the sick grin still on his face. “A slave of the Tenryuubito Stoddard Ingalls can’t be so misbehaved, now can she?”

* * *

 

There was an odd shortcut through the trees that Usopp discovered and he went through the path down to the town. Only... it didn’t take him to the town, but rather to a weird, oddly large…storehouse?

_‘What is this? I thought I was going to the town? How did I end up here?_ ’ Usopp wondered to himself but didn’t stop walking. He had considered going up and down another route but then thought otherwise as the current path could take him to where Luffy might be. He couldn’t risk losing him.

Usopp neared the storehouse and was about to peer in through the nearest window located on the side of the building, but couldn’t reach to the top. He looked around for a way to look inside and found a stray crate located on its side. Usopp moved aside and kept the crate upright just underneath the window. He climbed on it and properly peered into the window. The sight he was greeted with had a nauseated sensation climbing from his stomach and into his throat.

Usopp clamped a hand over his mouth and looked anxiously from side to side at the literal fields of slaves, chained up by their neck, wrists and ankles and tied up to a rusted post. There was no gender-bias but Usopp could tell the male slaves were in a higher amount than the females. The slaves were limp, almost un-moving and were seated on a cold, steel floor. The floor was absolutely filthy and had a variety of fluids and solids on it. Semen, urine, stool, saliva, and other nameless fluids Usopp couldn’t recognize were in abundance.

“What the hell is this?” Usopp could barely manage to force the vomit creeping up his throat and had to turn away from the sight. He took several breaths and took a few seconds to recompose himself and turned back to the window, taking a longer look this time.

“Who are these people?” Usopp asked, horrified. He looked keenly and saw all the slaves seemed to be in their youths, no, roughly around the same age range as him or Nami. They were completely drained of their energy and could barely twitch. Usopp banged on the window and tried gaining their attention but it barely made a difference.

“I gotta get them out of there.” Usopp said and jumped down from the crate only to be met with a gun right at his pulse.  Usopp followed the barrel up towards the holder and saw a burly man with muscles as large as Usopp’s thighs on either arm, holding a gun with a sneer on his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Fuck!” Sanji furiously cussed and almost knocked his clenched fist against the desk. He stopped just in time when he remembered what damage he could potentially do and tried slamming the heel of his foot on the base of the desk only to howl in pain.
> 
> “Damn it!” He cussed again. “Is there nothing I can do but sit here and wait for my friends to be killed?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah...…………...the next update comes after LE update so yeah,

Sanji woke up roughly two hours after Nami and Chopper had been tied up and taken away from their respective bedrooms. He got up and slowly racked a hand through his disheveled blonde locks. He yawned widely and stretched his arms above his head, stretching his head to the side and then he dropped his arms to the fluffy bed and turned to look at the sleeping form of Chopper.

Only, there was nothing on the bed. 

Sanji's brows furrowed in confusion and a hint of suspicion. That was odd. He knew all too well about the different times and ways they all woke up in the morning. Luffy, Brook and Usopp were always the last, while he, Nami, and Robin were the early rises in their crew. Franky, Zoro and Chopper tended to wake up hours after he, Nami and Robin had already started their day.

Which was why, it made zero sense for Chopper to be awake before him.

Sanji thought that for once, maybe he was the one who had woken up late. After all, they had danced, and partied till the sun rose. Their nightly activities must have worn him out and made him sleep for an extra hour or so, which, by the time he woke, Chopper, and Nami were definitely awake.

However, when he checked his body clock, Sanji was affirmative that he was awake at the usual, proper time. He had not slept in, and if the unruffled, smooth bedsheets were anything to go by, neither had Chopper.

He limped off the bed and even though it was shameful, he crawled on his hands over to Chopper’s bed and used his upper body strength to heave his body onto it. 

_ ‘I knew it.’ _ Sanji smoothened out the invisible creases in the sheet with his hand and when he lifted it and looked at his palm; there was no fur. Chopper had a tendency to naturally shed fur on whatever surface he’d be resting against, and looking at his smooth, empty palm, Sanji was absolutely certain that Chopper had not made it to this room.

Sanji’s plan to get out off the room and try to find his nakama wasn’t as foolproof, or classy as he originally thought it out to be. He’d planned to crawl his way out of the room and the inn and try to find anyone, preferably his friends, that could help.

The plan didn’t work out too well when Sanji crawled out of the room and found that there were stairs leading down to the exit on the first floor. He was capable of moving down stairs with only his arms, but Sanji wondered how embarrassing it’d be if one of the locals saw a full-grown man slowly going down the stairs by his arms.

Sanji squashed the thought away because there were more important things to worry about rather than his dignity. Chopper could be missing. Sanji didn’t know how he came to that conclusion but he couldn’t shake off the bad feeling in his gut that persisted no matter how many times Sanji thought the younger male was strong and could protect himself.

Sanji somehow managed to descend the stairs and found the front desk was empty. There was no manager, no staff, nothing, it was absolutely empty. And, upon taking a closer look, it seemed like the desk was cleared out. There was nothing there to show a person had been managing the place. Not even a stray pencil or piece of crumpled up paper, nothing.

Sanji found that even stranger but didn’t waste any time on it and went towards the door. Luck favored him because at that moment, a distinctive unrealistically slender male dressed in a dusty and slightly torn suit passed by the store, and Sanji immediately yelled out his name.

* * *

Brook stopped and turned when he heard a voice call his name. The streets were still empty even on this side of town and he felt a chill come over him at the thought of it being a ghost or an evil spirit calling out to him.

He glanced around, scared and slightly shaking, when he heard it again, louder this time, and followed by a series of thumps. The harsh sounds scared him further but when he heard a rather colorful curse, he began retracing his steps. He stopped when he was in front of a store, and cautiously peered in, exclaiming joyfully when he saw Sanji’s sweat-drenched face.

“Sanji-san!” Brook opened the door enthusiastically and nearly smacked Sanji in the face with his dress-shoes. “I’m so happy to see you!”

Brook knelt down and looked at Sanji, smiling widely. “I was so lonely-! I thought you guys had gone and left me behind!”

Sanji waved Brook’s arms away and halted suddenly. He turned a sharp gaze onto Brook and asked, voice tight with dread and fear. “What do you mean _‘we had gone and left you?_ ’"

“I mean," Brook went on, oblivious to the small crisis Sanji was gradually falling under. " When I woke up, the entire town was empty. There was no one on the streets and even in their houses. The entire place had been cleared out, and then when I went to find you guys, I couldn’t since I didn’t know where you were and I couldn’t ask any of the locals.”

“So, you haven’t seen or met up with Nami or Chopper?”

“No.” Brook shook his head, “You’re the first person I’ve seen since I woke up.”

“And by the way, Sanji-san, what are you doing here?” At Sanji’s confused expression, Brook went on to elaborate. “I mean, what are you doing here on the floor? Shouldn’t you be in bed asleep?”

“I was asleep.” Sanji answered and looked at the empty desk once more. “But when I woke up, Chopper wasn’t in the bed next to mine, and I haven’t checked on Nami cause I thought if she were awake she’d be out here with Chopper.” He turned back to Brook, “But now, I’m even doubting whether she’s even still around here.”

“You said there was nobody around when you woke up, right?” Sanji tried waving off Brook’s help again but the skeleton wouldn’t allow it and helped Sanji up and onto the desk. 

“Yes. I was walking around, trying to see if I could find anyone, but you were the only person I managed to find.” Brook said.

“And this place looks like there's been nobody managing it for the past week, but the rooms and the beds smell fresh and clean, which means there were people here, and we did party with them yesterday. But, if Nami and Chopper are missing,” His expression became grim and his hold on the desk tightened, suddenly provided with vivid images of brutal slavery or worse.“-Then they might have been kidnapped.”

* * *

There wasn’t much to see past that. Broken down houses, littered with trash everywhere, and the occasional passed out (or dead) drunk. Zoro was greatly unsurprised by the sight, but he continued walking, futilely wishing to see something more, something more interesting, something that could quench the curiosity that burrowed into his skin and made him take another step.

But nothing changed. With each step Zoro took, going further and further away from his crewmates, he found nothing that came close to sating his curiosity. He questioned his gut’s decision and decided to turn back and go to find Luffy when his eye caught the faint glimmer of a shiny material.

* * *

“What do you mean kidnapped?” Brook asked, voice shaky. “”There’s no way that could have happened, Sanji.”

Sanji patted down his pockets for a cigarette but found them empty. He clicked his tongue and left his hands in his lap. His mouth itched for a cigarette but Sanji pushed the itch aside. There was a bigger problem at hand and it was not his nicotine addiction. 

“Think about it, Brook.” Sanji said and looked up at the taller male. “We blacked out after having a _rather lengthy and extravagant_ party held by the locals. Then someone, I’m guessing Nami, bought us a room and left us there. Then, the next morning she and Chopper are nowhere to be found? Doesn’t that sound suspicious to you? Not to mention the locals themselves are hiding.”

Brook was hesitant on his response and took a moment to really think about Sanji’s words. He might have been right after all. Nami and Chopper were missing, and so were the locals. He hadn’t been taken to the room like Sanji and Chopper and had instead been left outside (which he was still bitter about) and when he’d woken up, there’d been literally no one around. The idea of kidnapping didn’t seem too far of a stretch, but Brook still had his doubts.

“What if they went out with the locals? I mean, maybe they just woke up early and tagged along with them.”

Sanji’s deadpan look made another appearance. “Do you really believe Nami would willingly wake up early and go work? For free?”

Brook hesitated again because he knew it was true. In the few months he’d spent travelling the seas with the Straw Hats, Brook learned Nami never, ever,  _ ever _ did something free for someone else, and if she did it, she’d end up charging you an  at the end. Thus, the idea of Nami waking up early and going to work for someone else without an extraordinary payment pre-hand was unbelievable.

“Exactly.” Sanji said when he saw Brook’s expression. “There’s no way that would happen.”

“And there’s no other explanation for their disappearance, other than, A, they either left of their own accord, or, there’s option B. They were taken.” Sanji felt his tongue begin to sizzle and a weird jittery sensation overcome his fingers. The first signs of withdrawal. “My bet is on the latter.”

“Then, what do we do?!” Brook went into panic mode and begin thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened to Nami and Chopper. It sent a shiver down his bare spine and made his stomach all fluttery. “We have to go find them!”

“Calm down, Brook.” Sanji said, and Brook was mildly surprised at how calm and collected he was considering he’d been the one to guess Nami and Chopper were kidnapped. “For starters, we need to inform the rest of the crew. I’m out of commission-” Sanji looked bitterly at his legs, “-and I can’t really help but the others have to know about this. The wider our search, the more likely we are to find them before something happens.”

“Okay.” Brook said, immediately agreeing with the suggestion. “Then, should I get going back to the ship?”

“No.” Sanji shook his head, “That would take too long. Go find the others. It doesn’t matter who. The marimo, Usopp, or Luffy. Find one of them and tell them what happened. Then go to Sunny and tell Franky and Robin-chwan. Tell them to keep their guard up and don’t let any suspicious character out of their sight.”

“And what will you do, Sanji-san? I feel bad about leaving you here.” Brook said and he looked down at the blonde male, worried. 

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Sanji desperately wanted to smoke but he had to fight it back. It was slowly killing him on the inside, the withdrawal, but he tried his best to keep the effects at bay, at the very least, until Brook left the inn. He didn’t want the older man to see him in that state. It felt too personal, invasive. It’d leave him feeling raw and Sanji didn’t want that.

“Get going.” He said firmly. “The more time you waste here, the further Nami and Chopper get away from us.”

Brook wanted to say something else, something reassuring, or encouraging, but he lacked the words, and instead nodded his head and went out of the inn, bolting off in the direction of the less fortunate side of town, hoping he’d pass by his crewmates before something irrefutable happened to Nami and Chopper.

* * *

“Urgh!” Nami grunted and thrashed in her bonds. “Let me out of this things and I swear-!” She turned and tried wiggling her fingers or arms out but the ropes tying her wrists together were too strong and bit into her skin with each wild thrash.

“Nami!” Chopper called out weakly, trying to get her to stop. “You’re only hurting yourself by doing that!.”

“No, Chopper!” Nami refused and shook her hands violently. “Don’t you understand our situation?” She glared up at the Ingalls and said, “These pigs are trying to make us into slaves! There’s no way I would just sit there and let it happen!”

Chopper turned to the Ingalls as well but could barely make out their figure. The people who had tied him up had used rope with a strong essence of Kairouseki and Chopper had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

Sathlei clicked her tongue and looked down at Nami, a disgusted expression on her unattractive features, which only furthered to enhance her hideous features. “This brat-! How dare you call us pigs?! Who do you think you are talking to, huh?!”

“Disgusting swines that sell people and use them for their own amusement!” Nami snarled out, “You’re worse than the pigs rolling themselves in mud!”

Sathlei felt a vein throb and nearly burst on her forehead as she got off her chair, descended the steps and stopped right in front of Nami. “You know, I’ve thought about this for a while, but I don’t like that look in your eye.” She whispered and Nami was suddenly thrown onto her side as the resounding sound of a boot making contact with flesh resounded through the warehouse.

Sathlei brutally kicked Nami in the face with her shoe, and didn’t stop even when blood begin trickling out of Nami’s nose and the fresh cuts forming from her cheeks, forehead and chin. Sathlei continued savagely assault Nami until she’d ran out of energy and couldn’t lift her foot anymore.

Chopper watched the scene play out, and tried crawling to Nami’s rescue but the Kairouseki prevented him from even moving an inch forward. He had to lie there and watch as his friend, his precious crewmate, was cruelly beaten to a bloody pulp.

“Stop it!” He cried out but his voice was barely more than a whisper to the violent sounds emitting from Nami and Sathlei. “Don’t hurt her! Leave her alone!”

Sathlei panted heavily and wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked down at Nami’s limp body triumphantly. “Ha! For all your talk, you went silent pretty easily, pretty girl?” Sathlei bent down and looked down at Nami’s bloody face. She grinned evilly and was about to make another remark when Nami turned her head towards her and spat out the blood in her mouth directly onto Sathlei’s face.

“Die, you bitch.” Nami sneered and bared her bloody teeth at Sathlei, like an angry animal.

Sathlei screeched and wailed, flailing around like a fish yanked from the ocean. She tried wiping away the blood but only made it worse. She kept making it worse with each wipe until her caked face was colored a bright, crimson red in oddly sized streaks across her face.

“You-! Bitch!” Sathlei screamed and turned to her son, “Stoddard! You can’t have this manner less, uncouth scum around you! She’d taint your pure soul!”

Stoddard simply cackled at the sight and clapped his hands together. It vaguely resembled a seal, slapping their fins together on the ice. “She’s fantastic!” He exclaimed and descended the steps to get a closer look at Nami. 

“I love her already!” He grinned widely and licked his lips, leaving a thick, slimy trail of drool on his fat lips. “It will be so much fun to break that spirit of hers, and make her submissive.”

Nami sneered at Stoddard and was about to spit in his face as well, but Stoddard saw through her and smacked her hard in the face just as she was about to spit.

“But, we will first have to make sure you can’t do these things anymore, huh?” He said the sick grin still on his face. “A slave of the Tenryuubito Stoddard Ingalls can’t be so misbehaved, now can she?”

* * *

There was an odd shortcut through the trees that Usopp discovered and he went through the path down to the town. Only... it didn’t take him to the town, and instead rather to a weird, oddly large…storehouse?

_ ‘What is this? I thought I was going to the town? How did I end up here? _ ’ Usopp wondered to himself but didn’t stop walking. He had considered going up and down another route but then thought otherwise as the current path could take him to where Luffy might be. He couldn’t risk losing him.

Usopp neared the storehouse and was about to peer in through the nearest window located on the side of the building, but couldn’t reach to the top. He looked around for a way to look inside and found a stray crate located on its side. Usopp moved aside and kept the crate upright just underneath the window. He climbed on it and properly peered into the window. The sight he was greeted with had a nauseated sensation climbing from his stomach and into his throat.

Usopp clamped a hand over his mouth and looked anxiously from side to side at the literal fields of slaves, chained up by their neck, wrists and ankles and tied up to a rusted post. There was no gender-bias but Usopp could tell the male slaves were in a higher amount than the females. The slaves were limp, almost unmoving and were seated on a cold, steel floor. The floor was absolutely filthy and had a variety of fluids and solids on it. Semen, urine, stool, saliva, and other nameless fluids Usopp couldn’t recognize were in abundance.

“What the hell is this?” Usopp could barely manage to force the vomit creeping up his throat and had to turn away from the sight. He took several breaths and took a few seconds to recompose himself and turned back to the window, taking a longer look this time.

The slaves were all of different races. Some were long-armed or legged people, others were dwarfs, while others were foreign species he’d never seen before, and others were blatantly human. The men were in a higher number, indeed, but the women neared that amount, but that was if he was counting the ones breathing.

The slaves appeared to have been locked inside for a number of hours, possibly days, and judging from the poor conditions they were in, Usopp knew there had to be large number of them either passed out from the cold, or dead. He doubted any person would have been able to live with the amount of excess waste he saw surrounding the slaves, not to mention the skimpy clothes they all wore.

Having seen enough, Usopp dropped down from the crate and began devising a plan to help the slaves escape. He abruptly stopped when he realized the kind of island he was on. The villagers. They must have not known of this. 

Usopp frantically tried thinking of a way to save the islanders and the slaves but there was no way to do that without first finding who the mastermind was. He didn’t know where to begin looking but Usopp knew he needed an extra pair of eyes. There could be people watching the area, or even him, and he couldn’t risk getting captured. 

Usopp didn’t feel good about it but began back-tracking. He walked back from the storehouse and back to the path. He began running once he got to the path and hoped he ran into his crewmates. It didn’t even have to be Luffy. As long as it was someone he could trust, Usopp didn’t care who it’d be.

* * *

To his disappointment, the shiny material was only a discarded sword, dulled from years of being left alone, uncared for and unpolished. He clicked his tongue in disappointment and annoyance and turned on his heel, determined to find his crewmates.

“Now, where did Usopp and Luffy go to?” Zoro wondered out loud and took a turn. He expected it to lead him to the previous path where the faux robbers had come after him but he only met with a wall. It was a dead-end.

He clicked his tongue and turned around again. “This damn place keeps changing…” He muttered lowly and tried to go forward before taking a right. The result was the same as the last one. He tried again, and again, and again, until he got tired and decided to stop in the middle of the road and rest for a few seconds.

As he tried waiting for his nergy to restore, Zoro felt his belly grumble with the demand of food. He rubbed it slightly and looked around, wondering how he’d get out of this hell-hole and back to the Sunny where a certain blonde haired man’s food waited.

Zoro felt something weird in his chest when he thought of the blonde cook and tried to dismiss it as heartburn. Only his mind knew what it really was and began replaying the various situation he’d been in ever since Sanji got injured.

The job Nami handed over to him. The struggle it was for him and the cook to adjust to each other. The odd mothering sensation he’d get when he’d see Sanji wince and try to not show the pain he was feeling when he thought no one was looking. Those things played in his mind, filling him with an odd sensation that he immediately wanted to beat out of himself.

He was stopped when a voice, familiar as could be, yelled out his name and he turned to see who it could possibly be now.

* * *

“Fuck!” Sanji furiously cussed and almost knocked his clenched fist against the desk. He stopped just in time when he remembered what damage he could potentially do and tried slamming the heel of his foot on the base of the desk only to howl in pain.

“Damn it!” He cussed again. “Is there nothing I can do but sit here and wait for my friends to be killed?” 

Sanji had grown attached to all his friends, including the green mosshead, during their travel. So much so that the thought of them being in peril danger, and him being perfectly safe atop of a desk sent violent shivers throughout his entire soul. He didn’t want to go out there and just be a burden but staying inside wasn’t an option either.

What if they need extra help? Or if they don’t know where it is? Sanji’s mind was overwhelmed with such thoughts and he couldn’t help of imagining what would happen if those thoughts became a reality. ‘Or even worse, if Nami and Chopper are already…’ 

Sanji stopped that train of thought there and smacked his cheek, hard. He couldn’t believe he’d even doubted two of the strongest and smartest people he knew. There was no way they’d die so easily. The years he’d spent with them should have been enough to tell him that. Sanji ignored the throbbing in his cheek and began thinking of a way to come off the desk and get out there. They might not die easily as his paranoid mind seemed to think but that didn’t mean they didn’t help.

“Fucking Brook. I told him not to put me up here.” Sanji said it harshly but he was mildly grateful for Brook. ‘At least someone knows of the situation. It’d be impossible to tell them if Brook hadn’t passed by.’

Sanji looked down at his feet and out through the window, hoping that Brook found someone in time and that Nami and Chopper were still okay.


	12. Chapter 12

“Oh thank God, I finally found you!” Brook lifted his hands up to praise whatever deity that directed him to the green-haired swordsman.

 

“Brook?” Zoro asked, puzzled. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Nami and Chopper?”

 

The mention of his two crewmates brought tears to his eyes and Brook immediately broke down in tears. The fat globs fell from his empty sockets and down onto his beaten and battered suit, the material immediately soaking up the moisture and leaving odd wet patches.

 

“What?” Zoro asked, even more confused than before. “What is it? Why are you crying?”

 

Brook tried explaining but all that came out was incomprehensible gibberish. He tried gathering himself together to try telling Zoro what had happened but the tears wouldn’t stop.

 

Zoro, now annoyed, grabbed Brook by the collar and lifted him from the floor. “Speak clearly, Brook! I can’t understand a damn word you’re saying!”

 

“Nami…” Brook sniffled and took a deep breath. “Nami and Chopper…They’re gone…”

 

“Gone?” Zoro shook the older man and tried making him answer. “Gone where!?”

 

“They were kidnapped, Zoro.” Brook nearly burst into tears after he said it but held himself back and did his best to report what Sanji had told him. “Sanji-san believes they were kidnapped by the villagers and that something bad is about to happen to them.”

 

“Huh?” Zoro let go of Brook and the latter male slumped to the floor. “Why would they do that? They gain nothing if they do that!”

 

“I didn’t tell Sanji-san this, but…” Brook sniffled and wiped the snot off with the sleeve of his suit. “What if the ones trying to gain something from capturing them aren’t the villagers but are instead outside parties? They could know who we are and trapped us here.”

 

“You mean Marines?” Zoro lifted an eyebrow and looked down at Brook, arms crossed over his incredibly muscular chest.

 

“Not necessarily but yes, it could be Marines. Or some pirates Luffy-san, Sanj-san or even you had angered before and they found about our arrival to the island and planned to capture Nami and Chopper.”

 

“I don’t think so.” Zoro frantically thought back to the time he landed on the island and was separated from Luffy and Usopp. “What kind of pirate has that much time and leverage on the islanders to make them kidnap a young woman and a reindeer?”

 

Brook kept silent after that and tried thinking of a response. His thoughts were interrupted by Zoro speaking up with an uncharacteristic amount of dread and trepidation in his voice.

 

“Unless it’s not a pirate, or a Marine, and someone even worse.” Zoro remembered the fine weapons the thugs wielded and how they’d refused to tell him where they’d gotten them from. He looked at Brook and the older man was scared to see the amount of fear that resided in those brown eyes. The same ones that were usually filled with an unbelievably amount of confidence and determination, sprinkled with some arrogance were now tainted with fear and dread.

 

“What could be worse than a pirate and a Marine?” Brook had been floating on the sea for over three decades. He’d seen the horrors the Marines and pirates inflicted on innocent civilians. He’d seen countries burned down for opposing, others butchered and plundered while some were kept permanently under the rule of a pirate. He couldn’t see what could possibly worse that that, unless…..

 

“A Celestial Dragon.”

* * *

Luffy wasn’t sure how he managed to not only separate from Usopp and Zoro but also divert from his original path and find himself back in the city. He wandered down the streets, calling out for his crewmates, but there was no response.

 

Puzzled, Luffy continued on and stopped by a few stores on the way, to peek in and see what he could possibly digest, his hungry belly as if hearing his thought growled loudly and Luffy whined, petting his stomach gently to calm it down.

 

He continued searching, his crewmates pushed to the side in favor of feeding his ravenous belly and peered into a random store and looked around, only to find his favorite and only cook laying down on the floor.

 

“Sanji?” Luffy asked incredulously. He ran into the store and lifted the older man up. “What happened here, Sanji? Where are the others? And why were you on the floor? Have you seen the villagers? I didn’t see them anywhere.” Luffy shook him, and tried to make Sanji look at him but the blonde could barely maintain eye contact with his captain and looked over his shoulder at the door. He kept quiet for a while before answering the younger man’s questions.

 

“They’re gone.” Sanji said, voice bleak and dry. “Nami and Chopper were kidnapped by the villagers and I sent Brook to find the others and tell them the news.”

 

Luffy could only blink and look at Sanji, a mix of surprise and disbelief in his nearly pitch-black eyes.

 

“Do you know where they are?” Sanji was thrown off course by Luffy’s question and looked at him, confused and a bit astonished.

 

“No...I was asleep when they were taken. I think we were drugged by the villagers. They must have taken that time to grab Nami and Chopper from their beds.”

 

Luffy licked his lips and asked, “When did this happen?”

 

“I’m not sure but I woke up nearly half an hour ago and found them gone. They might have been taken earlier, but I don’t know.”

 

“Alright.” Luffy rested Sanji’s weight on the table and stood up, moving aside, he wore the hat hanging around his neck and turned back to the cook. “We need to find them. Quickly.” Luffy bent down and grabbed Sanji’s midsection and lifted him onto the desk. He turned around and offered his back towards Sanji.

 

“Get on.” Luffy’s voice left no room to refuse, and Sanji steeled himself before gathering his energy and strength into his arms and jumping from the desk onto Luffy’s back.

 

Luffy bowed under the weight, momentarily stunned from how heavy Sanji was before he stretched out his hands and secured Sanji onto his back. Sanji tried not to hold his weight up by his thighs as he didn’t want to bruise the younger man’s hipbones and alternated between using his arms and legs as support.

 

Luffy shifted Sanji’s weight on his back and walked out of the store, using Sanji’s possible deductions, they tried to navigate the island and find at least one of their crew. Sanji knew time was running out and they needed to find them as soon as possible, but the possibility kept lowering with each second Sanji and Luffy spent searching, unable to decide where to begin the actual search. Sanji tried to stay optimistic but it was proving difficult when it was his fault for not making sure they were safe.

 

Brook was horrified. His face didn’t and couldn’t show it but his mind and soul were absolutely horrified. There was no way, with the amount of time he’d spent sailing that Brook had never heard of the ‘Celestial Dragons’. Anyone in the universe knew of those two words and everyone felt the exact amount of dread and terror when they did.

 

Brook had heard and  had even seen the sort of things Celestial Dragons do to people, human beings or not. They were cruel, unbelievably cruel and extremely perverted. They coveted anything rare and priceless and did everything in their power to get whatever it was they wanted.

 

Brook was taken back to a time in his past, back when he’d had flesh on his bones and blood in his veins. He’d been docked on an island for a short time, intending to stay one or two days, three at the most when he’d run out of food and was sent to go and buy some in the stalls set up in the city.

 

Brook had joyfully went, humming a tune under his breath as he went when he came across one of the most cruelest act in humankind. In front of him, a few hundred feet away was a woman. Brook noticed her double-jointed arms and knew she was art of the Long-Arm Tribe. Back then, the amount of double-jointed people out in the vast ocean were few and far, finding one in this country was a rarity and a very expensive one at that.

 

Brook had thought nothing of it and was about to walk away but he looked at his surroundings and noticed the woman wasn’t chatting to the other owners and was facing down, head bowed so far, Brook feared it’d fuse with her chest. Brook saw the people around him were all facing downwards or towards the side, away from the woman and away from who she was also not looking at.

 

Brook felt a sense of apprehension as he drawed near to her, pushing past several villagers and children as he went. Brook, once he reached to the front line, felt his entire soul fade away at the sight of the woman.

 

The woman had her head bowed down facing the ground, and upon a closer look, Brook saw the fat tears rolling down past her cheeks and onto her blouse or on occasion the ground. Brook wondered why she was crying until he turned to his right and saw one of her arms, her left one was missing.

 

Brook’s eyes widened. He looked around for her hand, wondering why no one wa helping her when she was clearly in pain and in dire need of help. He must have attracted some attention for the people near him began whispering and Brook forced himself to calm down and listen.

 

‘Oh God, what do we do?’

‘What are you talking about? We obviously can’t help her! She brought that on herself!”

 

“That’s too cruel though.”

 

“He could have just killed her. There’s no need for this.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Brook was appalled by what he heard. He wondered ow many centuries had passed for humanity to become so cruel and unkind. Not one, not a single person had moved forward to help her and Brook, overwhelmed with anger and sympathy, moved forward about to help her when an arm tugged him back.

 

Brook whirled around to face whomever had tugged him and was surprised to see his captain there with his hat lowered, obscuring his face from view.

 

“What are you going to do, Brook?” His captain asked, voice oddly steady despite the situation going on in front of him.

 

“What do you mean what am I going to do? I’m going to save her!” Brook argued and tugged his hand out of his captain’s grip but it wouldn’t budge.

 

“And then what?”

 

Brook, “What do you mean ‘and then what?’ and then nothing! Nothing happens after!”

 

His captain, “So you plan to walk into a fight without knowing anyone and without a plan? I can’t let you do that.”

 

Brook, “What do you mean, a fight? There’s no fighting here! She’s hurt and she will die if we don’t get her to a doctor soon!”

 

“Look around you, Brook!” His captain hissed nearing the end of his patience and tugged Brook closer and made him look around him. “All these people, they all know she will die, you heard them saying that she will die and not a single one of them is offering to help her, haven’t you wonderend why?!”

 

His captain went on before Brook could even form a response. “Because they all know that they will be killed if they stand up for her!”

 

“Killed by who?!” Brook writhed in his captain’s grip but the latter male readjusted his grip and held brook firmly, effectively canceling out his chances of escape.

 

“By them!” His captain pointed towards the people who had, as if summoned, appeared and were walking-- no trotting towards the woman. Brook didn’t see anything special about them until he looked down and saw one siting on top of some sort of animal.

 

Brook didn’t see that strange as he’d seen multiople ride camels, donkeys and even elephants but this animal was a bit strange in the sense that it had opposable thumbs and a pair of two-very  human like feet.

 

“Those are the Celestial Dragons, Brook!” His captain whispered, and Brook idly took note that the entire crowd, once whispering and mumbling amongst one another was as silent as the grave. “They are the most powerful people on the planet! Not even the army or the Marines can stand up to them!”

 

“I don’t know what happened here but I’m guessing that woman disrespected one of them and they came to exact out their revenge.”

 

“By taking out her hand?!”

 

“They’re sick people, Brook! Look at them! They’re monsters! They take and kill anyone they like, and no one can stop them! That woman’s hand being ripped of is a lighter punishment compared to others.”

 

‘That’s a ight punishment?’ Brook wondered but didn’t say anything. “Then why can’t we just go in and save her? We’re pirates anyway, we’re supposed to ‘plunder villages and take their women!’”

 

“If you do that Brook, you wouldn’t be putting your life in danger, you’d be putting ours and everyone you’ve ever known, not even cared about, known! In danger! Anyone you’ve ever come across will be gutted down and the price will be on your head!”

 

Those words had followed Brook everywhere he’d gone. When his entire crew died out, yet he survived, those words survived with him. Anywhere he went, if the words ‘Tenryuubito’ were ever mentioned, Brook felt a chill overcome his entire body.

 

Hearing those words come out of Zoro’s mouth and associated with members of their crew, Brook felt those words and feelings re-surface once more.

 

“But-! There’s no way they’d be here! There’s nothing to gain from living in this island!” Brook argued, trying to calm his frightened heart.

 

“Think about it, Brook!” Zoro said, “Yesterday, when you were with the villagers, did they look happy? Did they look like they were enjoying their lives?”

 

Brook was about to say no when he remembered the tense atmosphere that had been there prior to their arrival and introduction. He remembered, in between their late-night party, how terrified and saddened some of the villagers had looked. He remembered the tortured looks he’d seen too many times not to recognize on each and every one of their faces.

 

“See! I’m not saying they’re here, it could just be marines, but there is a possibility.” Zoro said, his face grim and mouth drawn in a tight line.

 

“Then what do we do?!” Brook asked, frantic.

 

“We have to get to the others and think of a plan.” Zoro looked around, trying to find the direction their ship had been located in. “So, we gotta get back to Sunny.”

* * *

Usopp dashed past the trees, heart hammering in his chest as he went. He used one of his special balls and blew away a thick entanglement of vines blocking his way. He held his ‘stick’ with one hand and used the other to pick out the balls when he needed one.

 

Usopp took a sharp right and literally burst out of the forest and into the city. He knew the city was the easiest and fastest way to return to Sunny and used it to his advantage, keeping a watch on his surroundings, Usopp slowed down and began sneaking past the city and into the woods that would eventually lead him back to Sunny.

 

His stealth escape was thwarted when a voice, one that could only belong to one extremely loud and extremely foolish person called him. Usopp’s heart leapt into his throat and he held a hand over his chest as he turned around to look at his captain.

 

“Oooii~ Usopp!!” Luffy waved wildly at him and Usopp briefly entertained the thought of tossing one of his balls at him but the thought was overpowered by the vast amount of relief and joy that overrided his system when he saw not one, but two of his crew together.

 

Usopp dashed over and ater briefly greeting them both, he asked where the others were.

 

Sanji’s face darkened and he turned away from Usopp, leaving him puzzled and a bit worried. Sanji was never one to turn away from anyone, especially not his own crew. Usopp looked at Luffy for assistance instead and his response had his entire heart stop for a millisecond.

 

“They’ve been taken by the villagers.”

* * *

Brook and Zoro ran as fast and as hard as they could, dodging past cars and various object discarded onto the filthy ground. Brook led the way and together, they managed to leave the poorer sides of the island and head towards Sunny.

 

It was just by luck that on their next turn they happened to bump into Usopp, Sanji and Luffy. “Luffy-san! Sanji-san! Usopp-san!” Brook exclaimed as he jumped on Usopp and hugged him tightly.

 

“Oi, Zoro.” Luffy greeted and Zoro nodded back. He looked up at Sanji who had now completely and totally refused to look at either one of them, choosing to burrow his face between his shirt and Luffy’s than face his crew.

 

“What are you doing up there, ero-cook?” Zoro asked and jabbed Sanji’s collarbone with the sheathed side of Kitetsu.

 

“Don’t jab me.” Sanji said but didn’t remove his face.

 

Zoro was about to tease him again when Usopp gasped loudly. From the corner of his eye, Zoro saw Sanji’s ears perk up and his head lift up slightly.

 

“That can’t be true….” Usopp whispered with a hand covering his mouth, eyes aghast with horror. “Oh God, please let it not be true….”

 

“What are you talking about?” Zoro asked and noticed his, Luffy’s and Brooks (if he had one) faces were grim. “Spit it out, Usopp! What is it?”

 

“When we were separated, I….--” Usopp swallowed and removed his hand form his mouth, choosing to alternate between running it through his hair or gripping it so tightly, Zoro wondered if he was going to tear it off. “I came across this….storage house….”

 

“Yeah, and?” Zoro pushed impatiently and idly his ears caught on the sound of Sanji clicking his tongue. “What was inside, Usopp?”

 

“People….” Usopp said it so quietly Zoro made him repeat it again. “There were people in there, Zoro! People! Real, live human beings living like animals, no even worse than animals! They were chained up, there was filth everywhere, some were even dead!”

 

The news shocked every one of them.

 

When Zoro made claims of there being Celestial Dragons around, he’d never seen this coming. When Sanji had said, Nami and Chopper were kidnapped, he’d never expected to hear that, and when Luffy had sprinted as fast as he could with Sanji on his back towards his friends, he’d never expected to hear slavery, such severe levels of it were currently undergoing in the town. The mere idea that one of them could be Nami or Chopper sent an unholy fire burning through him and enraged his entire being, down to his very last atom.

 

Usopp, as if sensing it, turned to Luffy and tried calming him down. “Oi, wait Luffy! Listen!” Usopp held his hands up in a placating gesture and tried holding Luffy down. “First, calm down! I didn’t see Nami or Chopper there so for now, they’ll be fine.”

 

“What are you saying?” Luffy writhed in Usopp’s grip which caused Sanji to shake on his back, and consequently tighten his legs so as to not fall off, effectively crushing Luffy’s hipbones.

 

Luffy yelped in pain and immediately, Sanji loosened his grip, apologizing profusely. Unfortunately, when Sanji loosened his grip so did Luffy, causing Sanji, who can’t stand on his own and is not allowed to put pressure on his feet, and needs help walking, to fall backwards.

 

As if in slow-motion, Usopp gasped along with Brook while Luffy stretched his hands out and back, trying to catch Sanji. Zoro, being the closest to the scene, instinctively dived forward and caught Sanji before his own instincts kicked in and tried making him land on his feet.

 

Sanji panted, looking up at Zoro in shock who held him none too gently by the nape of his shirt and his waist. Zoro smirked down at Sanji and lifted an eyebrow cockily, “Guess you owe me one now, ero-cook.”

 

Sanji snapped out off his daze ad pushed Zoro away, using his abdominal muscles to lift himself back up and on Luffy’s back. “I owe you nothing, marimo.”

 

“Bold words coming from someone who almost split his head on the sidewalk.”

 

“No, I didn’t! I was perfectly fine.”

 

“Really?” Zoro pestered, leering at Sanji with an evil smirk on his lips.

 

“Yes!”

 

“And how did you imagine saving yourself before your head cracked against the ground? Were you going to do a flip and land on your feet? But that wouldn’t work because you can’t walk right now. Hmm….” Zoro pretended to be in deep thought, dying on the inside at the red color that was quickly migrating to all corners of Sanji’s face.

 

Sanji opened his mouth, about to retaliate when Usopp cut them off.

 

“Stop it, you two! We have bigger issues at hand and don’t have time to stroke your ego--” He pointed at Zoro, “--Or deflate his.” It went to Sanji. “Nami and Chopper need our help, so can you two stop arguing for four seconds and try to work together?”

 

Zoro grumbled but nodded and Sanji turned away from Zoro, which was as much of a yes as he was getting. Usopp sighed and turned back to Luffy, explaining the plan he’d just recently cooked up and had little to no clue if it’d work.

* * *

“I cannot believe I’m stuck with you.” Sanji said and grinded the heels of his shoes into Zoro’s hips.

 

“I should be the one saying that since you are riding on my back while I do all the heavy lifting, princess.” Zoro teased and bit back a groan of pain when Sanji literally kicked his hip bones, leg injury all but forgotten.

 

“Who the fuck are you calling princess, you brute?” Sanji hissed and tightened his legs. Zoro imagined it was how a prey felt while being suffocated, or in his case, squeezed to death by legs that had no business being that powerful.

 

“You, princess. You keep whining up there, that it was a bad plan, but did you have a better idea?” Zoro jumped over a log and grinned when Sanji’s body coiled around him to prevent being thrown around.

 

“I didn’t say it was a bad idea.” Sanji argued back and lessened his hold. “I just don’t understand why I have to be with you while I could be helping the others find Nami and Chopper.”

 

“Help them how? You’d just drag them down and make them lose their chances of actually finding Nami and Chopper.” Zoro spoke before he thought but once the words were out, he immediately tried taking them back.

 

“Wait, ero-cook, I dind’t mean that.” Zoro said, confused and wondering why he felt so bad and guilty. What he said certainly was no lie but evem Zoro knew when to say things and when not to. However, this time, his tongue had moved before his mind and he’d ended up saying something cruel, truthful, but still cruel.

 

“It’s fine.” He sounded evreything but fine. “It’s not like it’s a lie anyway. I would drag the entire team down.”

 

“No, you wouldn’t.” Is what Zoro would’ve liked to say but he didn’t feel like lying to the cook and kept quiet, focusing on the road and turning when Sanji told him to turn. Soon enough, Sanji led Zoro towards Sunny and together, they boared the ship and went in search of their crewmates.

* * *

Robin was on the dock, sun-bathing in a bralette designed for swimming and a light cloth tied firmly at her hip, exposing her smooth, tanned legs. Sanji briefly mentally drooled over the rare expanse of Robin’s skin but snapped back to earth when Zoro dropped him roughly onto one of the deck chairs.

 

“Be careful, asshole!” Sanji hissed at Zoro, and re-arranged himself on the chair. Zoro paid him no mind and stomped off towards the galley. Sanji yelled at him to be careful but Zoro waved back a crude sign and briefly, Sanji entertained the thought of tossing the chair next to his but decided not to, not only that, Zoro had managed to escape and was safely in his kitchen, something that couldn’t be said for his ingredients, specifically, his alcohol.

 

“So, what is it, Chef-san?” Robin asked and put her book down. She took the glass on the table and carefully sipped at her drink, looking at Sanji through her heavily lensed glasses. Sanji had no doubt, if she pushed up those glasses, he’d be greeted with mirth. The slight smile on her lips was enough to tell Sanji, she was enjoying watching him and Zoro argue as usual.

 

Robin, “What did you want to tell us?”  With perfect timing, Franky walked in, stil sleepy from his short nap. He went over and sat on the floor, whining about how hot he was and how the drinks wouldn’t be enough for him. Sanji ignored him for favor of paying his whole attention to Robin.

 

“Well, the thing is, Robin-swan, Franky, Nami and Chopper have been kidnapped, and we think the Celestial Dragons are on this island.”

**Author's Note:**

> Almost forgot: prompt goes to @zosanprompts, she does great stuff, man.


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